After a month, locusts resurface in Guj, Raj

JAIPUR/AHMEDABAD: After a brief hiatus, locusts have again attacked crops in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district and parts of Rajasthan’s Jodhpur and Jaisalmer districts because of the wind flowing them from neighbouring Pakistan, officials said on Monday.

Nearly a month ago, huge swarms of locusts had damaged several crops in Banaskantha and Patan districts of north Gujarat and Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jilore, Barmer and Bikaner districts of western Rajasthan. The menace was controlled by December 20 with spray of pesticides.

The Gujarat government on Monday announced fresh measures to control the menace, officials said. Banaskantha district agriculture officer P K Patel, said: “Due to change of wind direction, locusts have invaded parts of villages like Mavsar, Kundaliya and Radhanesda close to the border adjoining Pakistan. We are trying to control the problem by constant spray of pesticides.”

“Teams of the central and state governments are working daily with the help of locals to trace the swarm of locusts and destroy them. We believe locusts are now moving towards neighbouring Rajasthan,” he said.

According to some locals in the affected villages, locusts coming from Tharparkar region of Pakistan have damaged standing crops, including cumin and castor, that are mainly grown in the area. While in Gujarat, about 25,000 hectares of crop was damaged, an official estimated the loss to be in 3,25,000 hectares in neighbouring Rajasthan, making it the worst locust attack in the past four decades.

Deputy Director of Locust Warning Organisation in Jodhpur, KL Gurjar, said despite control operations in the border areas, the problem persisted. “Even though we are battling with the damage, because of the change in wind direction, swarms of varied size of locus have returned with a fresh fury,” he said.