Locust swarms reach NCR, race over to UP
ATTACK Swarms may descend somewhere near Agra by nightfall, says agriculture ministry
NEW DELHI: Columns of desert locusts, menacing crop-eating pests, which survived a control operation in Rajasthan on June 26, flew over parts of the National Capital Region on Saturday, including rural west Delhi (Dwarka), Gurugram and Faridabad. Residents kept their windows shut, banged utensils or played loud music to chase the insects away.
Swarms appeared over the skies of Delhi and its satellite cities of Gurugram and Faridabad around mid-morning Saturday. The NCR has likely escaped a major attack because the swarms don’t settle during the day and were seen racing towards Uttar Pradesh, an official of the agricultural ministry said, requesting anonymity.
Locusts fly constantly during daytime and settle down only at nightfall.
Officials at Delhi’s airport, which falls close to areas over which the locusts flew, were being updated by locust control authorities of the agriculture ministry so that pilots can be briefed, the official said.
India is battling an invasions of locusts, which can flatten whole farms overnight, after they appeared earlier than anticipated this year in April in the border areas of Rajasthan.
The Horn of Africa has been witnessing large-scale breeding by locusts since 2019 due to frequent cyclones, possibly linked to climate change, and swarms have invaded several regions from there, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
The FAO has warned that locust invasions pose a “severe risk” to India’s farm economy this year. In a June 23 update, the FAO said India was among five nations that cannot lower their guard against locusts.
Desert locusts can fly hundreds of kilometres daily and a one square-km swarm can eat as much crop food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day, the FAO Desert Locust Information Service manual said.
“As of now, no locust swarms are active in any city. Authorities are tracking their route. The locusts have reached Uttar Pradesh,” the official cited above said. The swarms may descend somewhere near Agra by nightfall, the tacking teams said.
On Saturday, expert teams scoured areas which lay under the locust flight path. The country has deployed drones, locally developed sprayers and modified fire tenders to spray malathion, the main pesticide to kill locusts.
India this month shipped 20,000 litres of malathion to Iran to curb breeding there. Controlling the pests in Iran helps India because Iran lies on a west-east corridor the locusts take to enter India through Rajasthan.
People living in Gurugram and Faridabad posted pictures and videos showing clouds of pests in their areas.
“It was around noon. We heard a humming noise and saw the entire sky covered. The insects must have been several feet up in the air,” said Kuldeep Gurjar, a farmer and the head of Manesar Farmers’ Producer Organisation near Gurugram’s Manesar.
“Ground control teams are constantly tracking them and will undertake major control operations once they settle down,” a statement issued agriculture ministry said.
The most threatened states where locust control operations are under way are Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and UP. “India has experience of fighting locusts from two previous outbreaks, in 1950 and 1993. We have better technology now. If needed, the air force can help with aerial spraying,” said JN Thakur, former chief of locust monitoring, agriculture ministry. Locust authorities have ramped up containment since May. The area under control currently stands at about 114,026 hectares, up from about 49,000 hectares in May. One hectare is roughly 2.4 acres.