Drones deployed to kill locusts in Jaipur

A drone was used to spray pesticide and kill locusts in Jaipur district on the weekend after the voracious, crop-munching pests settled on a hilly road that was inaccessible to tractormounted sprayers, officials said on Sunday.

The drone was pressed into service on Saturday night and Sunday morning to eliminate the swarms of pests in the Viratnagar area.“we got information about a 3km-by-1km swarm in three villages of Viratnagar on Saturday. We surveyed the area and found the pest present on 230 hectares, but the area was difficult to access so we decided to use the drone,” said BR Kadwa, deputy director of the Rajasthan agriculture department, in Jaipur.

It’s the second time in a week that a drone had been deployed to spray pesticide on locust swarms in Jaipur district. A drone sent by the central government for locust control operations was used on swarms of the insect in Samode, about 40km north-west of Jaipur, on the night of May 26.

Heavy rain that continued until 10.30 pm , in addition to the difficult terrain, impeded Saturday night’s operation. “We could launch the operation only around midnight,” he added. Kadwa said the locust swarms could be controlled only in 105 hectare; teams couldn’t reach the remaining areas. “We managed to kill only half the swarm,” he said.

Three vehicles of the Locust Warning Organisation, which functions under the Union agriculture ministry, and three tractor-mounted sprayers, were on standby. About 50 litres of pesticides was used in the operation, the officials said.

In the second operation, a smaller swarm covering 80 hectares in Amer teshil, was eliminated by two LWO vehicles and three tractor-mounted sprayers. “We used 20 litres of pesticides to control locusts on 45 hectare,” said Danvir Verma, deputy director (horticulture), who supervised the operation.

A locust invasion was reported in Rajasthan in May last year after a gap of 26 years. The attack continued until February this year and the pests devoured crops on at least 670,000 hectares across 12 districts, causing a loss of around ₹ 1,000 crore, according to the state agriculture department. A fresh invasion began on April 11 . “The immature locusts spread to Jaisalmer, Barmer, Ganganagar and parts of Jodhpur until May 1. Later, began to wander farther, coming as far as Jaipur...,” said Dr Suwa Lal Jat, joint director (plant protection).