SO, HOW FAR FROM PLAGUE?

LWO officials say as on June 8, over 1,500 ha in Rajasthan's Nagaur and Bikaner districts were infested with yellow locusts.

Paul says there is a possibility that the next generation that will hatch outside the traditional territory would be fewer in number. Adult locusts require sandy soil, where they can make a hole, as deep as 10 cm, to push in their abdomen and lay eggs. This is not possible in ordinary soil. So the swarms would lay pods with fewer eggs than the usual 200 to 250. But even these small groups can cause mayhem at the local level. After all, they thrive in areas that are warm, roughly 25oC to 40oC, and have ample rainfall and green vegetation. When conditions are less favourable, locusts take up to six months to mature. But given the right conditions, they can breed every three months and increase 20fold in a single generation and about 400 times in six months after two generations of breeding. This will have a disastrous impact at a time when rural areas are facing reverse migration due to COVID-19.

Cotton farm of Mahaveer Saran, of Beenjhbaila village in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Before locusts attacked the village on May 26, young plants dotted the field

As of now, desert locusts are causing outbreaks in at least 10 other countries in the Horn of Africa and southwest Asia. Though the scale and intesity of the infestation is said to be the worst in decades, FAO describes this an "upsurge", meaning locusts have been able to breed uncontrolled for several successive seasons. In an e-mail interview, Keith Cressman, locust forecasting expert at FAO, tells DTE, “The occurrence of a locust plague depends on weather, rains, control and locust breeding before the end of the year.”

However, such a declaration does not seem too far. For the past three years, Locusts have been breeding early and multiplying profusely and spreading in huge numbers due to a series of unusual and extreme climate conditions.

For instance, locusts usually return from Gujarat and Rajasthan to Pakistan and Iran between October and November. But last year, Rajasthan experienced an extended monsoon, which prompted the