Lko put on high alert over possible locust attack
Experts say Saturday’s operation to control the swarms when they flew over parts of the NCR appeared ineffective
LUCKNOW : The state government has put Lucknow on a high alert for a possible locust attack and made all preparations to deal with the crop-destroying pests as VVIP ‘installations’ like Raj Bhawan, the chief minister’s residence and Lok Bhawan have enough plants to attract swarms, officials said here on Sunday.
“A swarm of desert locusts is expected to reach Kasganj and Kanpur anytime and the possibility of it moving from Kanpur to Lucknow cannot be ruled out. Much will depend on the direction of the winds as well,” additional chief secretary, agriculture, Devesh Chaturvedi said.
“On our part, we have made necessary preparations to tackle any possible threat to important places like Raj Bhawan and the chief minister’s residence,” he added. He said the district magistrate had been asked to alert the departments concerned to keep fire tenders ready for spraying pesticides and keep loud music systems in place to play to drive away the swarms of locusts as and when they attack.
“We have also asked mango farmers to be ready at their level to deal with the situation,” Chaturvedi said.
Locusts, he said, had already affected 16 districts falling under seven divisions of the state.
People aware of the issue said the authorities were especially concerned about Lucknow, the state capital that is full of gardens and parks which may attract the locusts if they reach the district.
“Raj Bhawan itself has a huge park full of plants. Besides places like the botanical garden and
› A swarm of desert locusts is expected to reach Kasganj and Kanpur anytime and the possibility of it moving from Kanpur to Lucknow cannot be ruled out DEVESH CHATURVEDI , additional chief secretary, agriculture
Lohia park may become easy targets for the locusts,” they said.
Deputy director (agriculture), Lucknow, CP Srivastava said VVIP buildings were certainly an area of concern in the event of a locust attack in the district.
He claimed the agriculture department, along with the district administration, had resorted to micro and macrolevel planning to curb the potential danger in the entire district.
“We have alerted some bandwallahas to be ready with loud music systems when needed and also kept Nagar Nigam’s water tanks and fire tenders ready to spray chemicals depending on the timing of the attack,” he explained. “On the micro-level, we have constituted farmers teams under block-level functionaries, asking them to inform authorities as soon as they spot any swarm of locusts in their area,” Srivastava added.
The districts that have witnessed locust attacks include Jhansi, Lalitpur, Agra, Mathura, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar and Varanasi. A swarm of locusts was last seen in Bulandshahr on Sunday.
The locust menace, according to those aware of the issue, may continue till September-October unless there are heavy rains that help kill them.
“Locusts are staying in different groups and they are likely to procreate as well in the weeks to come,” they said.
NEWDELHI: Swarms of crop-eating locusts on Sunday moved further from Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr to Kasganj, Oraiyya, Farrukhabad, and Hathras after the operation to control them a day earlier when they flew over parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) were ineffective, officials said. Residents banged utensils and played loud music to chase away the pests when they arrived in the NCR after surviving a control operation in Rajasthan on June 26.
K L Gurjar, the deputy director of Union agriculture ministry’s Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), said they could not control the entire swarms and they flew again early on Sunday morning. “We have arranged for drones, fire brigades, apart from seven teams with sprayer mounted on vehicles. We are trying our best. Control operations will begin again tonight [Sunday]. Teams are moving with the swarms,” said Gurjar.
India has been battling invasions of desert locusts, which pose a severe risk to farm economy, since April. Locusts can fly hundreds of kilometres daily and a square-km swarm can eat as much crop as 35,000 people in a single day.
The locusts have not so far impacted food security much, but LWO has warned that the Kharif crops, especially maize and cotton, are likely to be impacted if the locust threats from the Indian Ocean and their breeding sites in India are not controlled.
LWO teams in Rajasthan were trying to control fresh swarms coming in from Pakistan and Iran. “Control operations have been strengthened at the border to ensure swarms do not come in,” said Gurjar.
Gurjar on Saturday said breeding has started in several pockets as the monsoon approaches Rajasthan’s arid regions.
“The egg-laying has taken place and hoppers have emerged. But we will manage to control these hoppers immediately.”
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Saturday warned a general northerly movement of swarms will occur even as control operations continue.
Some of the swarms in Kenya were expected to transit through South Sudan to reach the summer breeding areas of Sudan, where it has rained. If the rain is not enough, the swarms could continue to Chad and spread westwards across the Sahel in West Africa.
The swarms in Somalia are likely to migrate across the Indian Ocean to the summer breeding areas along the IndiaPakistan border.
“In Southwest Asia, springbred swarms are present along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where they are awaiting the onset of the monsoon rains and allow the swarms to mature and lay eggs,” an FAO update said. It added locusts were mainly present in Rajasthan but some infestations continue to be reported from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
“There are successive breeding cycles in the Horn of Africa. Some swarms from there are moving towards west Africa while some are moving towards Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen. These can also come to India in July. The wind direction is southwesterly during monsoon. I will not be able to comment on whether they will carry these swarms with them,” Gurjar said.