Interministerial group set up to tackle locusts
NEW DELHI: The Centre has set up an inter-ministerial empowered group led by the agriculture ministry to intensify measures to deal with crop-devastating locusts in six most “at-risk” states, including through the use of helicopters and more advanced drones, Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar has said.
On recommendations of the group, the civil aviation ministry has relaxed conditions for the operation of civilian drones for locust operations, Tomar said. It has allowed the use of enginepowered drones of up to 50kg and use of drones at night for the locust control.
The empowered group, set up on Tuesday, which has representatives from helicopter operator Pawan Hans, Directorate General of Civil aviation and Air India, will serve as a commandand-control centre for decisions to control the pest that has now become endemic in Rajasthan.
Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the most threatened states as the country heads into its summer-sown kharif crop season.
Swarms of locusts on Sunday moved further from UP’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 were ineffective
The agriculture ministry has hired five technology firms to provide advanced drones.
Each firm will provide five large drones. So far, 12 drones have been deployed in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Nagaur. One drone can douse crops with pesticides in 16-17 hectare area in one hour. One hectare equals 2.5 acres. According to the UN, locusts pose a “serious threat” to the country’s agriculture this year. The pests can fly hundreds of kilometres a day and one square-km swarm can eat as much crop food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day, according to the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO)’s Desert Locust Information Service manual.
On Tuesday, the agriculture minister gave the go-ahead for a Bell helicopter with spray equipment from a helipad in Greater Noida. “The government is fully prepared. The Centre is coordinating with states on locust control,” Tomar said. As many as 60 specialised teams with spray equipment-mounted vehicles and over 200 federal personnel are engaged in locust control.