All the ammunitions currently in use against locusts can have serious health and environmental impacts

IN MAY 2019 when the Union and state governments were caught offguard by the locust attack, their response was to pass the buck. Union minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary during his visit to the affected areas blamed Pakistan, while the Rajasthan government complained that the Centre had not provided any help to control the menace. But the fact was since the last major locust upsurge in 1993, both the state and the Union governments had become complacent.

“LWO was on the verge of getting disbanded because no locust attack had happened in over two decades,” says a district agriculture official, who does not wish to be named. As on June 2018, as many as 117 of the 250 positions were lying vacant across its 12 circle offices. “This time we were prepared," says K L Gurjar, deputy director, LWO. "Now we have more than 200 staff personnel. Last year, we had just 45 vehicles. Now, we have placed an order for 55 control vehicles and 60 ultra-low-volume spray vehicles.” LWO has also improved its monitoring system and uses the eLocust2 device developed by FAO to monitor the movement of swarms on a real-time basis. Locust officers on the field enter all survey and control related data into the handheld device which then transmits the information via satellite. This is complimented by the village level data provided by agriculture supervisor, farmers and revenue officials.

However, there does not appear to be much changes in the insecticides being used. In 1993, during the last locust upsurge, LWO was using benzene hexachloride (BHC), dieldrin, fenitrothion and malathion. While the use of BHC and dieldrin has stopped after the government banned them, malathion is now the preferred insecticide by LWO. Agriculture officials who accompany them during control operations mostly use chlorpyrifos and lambda cyhalothrin. Surprisingly, on May 14, the Union agriculture ministry issued a draft proposal on the ban of 27 insecticides likely to "involve risk to human beings and animals". The list includes malathion and chlorpyrifos. Though the ministry says the insecticides can be used on locusts, it does highlight the toxic-effects of the chemicals on human health and the environment (see 'Toxic tale'). During the five weeks till June 7, LWO has used 70,700 litres of malathion during operations over 71,000 hectares across 43 districts. Between May last year to February this year, LWO had used 3,02,686 liters of malathion.

The use of insecticides in such huge quantities has raised alarm among many. M S Swaminathan, the father of Green Revolution, on June 3 took to Twitter and said: "The #locust menace is causing serious damage to agriculture. Farmers are worried. The best way to control locust invasion is spray neem seed decoction over plants. Neem is a strong repellent & also a fertilizer. I hope our farmers will manage the serious threat to crop security." Biswajeet Paul, principal scientist at IARI, says the volume of insecticides used currently is atrocious. Fire engines spray bigger droplets that hold large amount of pesticides. This will cause severe pollution. "Unfortunately, spraying of chemical insecticides is the only effective method

1929: THE GOVERNMENT OF COLONIAL INDIA REALISES THE SERIOUS PROPORTIONS OF LOCUST MENACE, AND INCLUDES THE TOPIC IN THE AGENDA OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. IN 1939, THE LOCUST WARNING ORGANISATION IS SET UP