India’s locust control wing is oldest in world

NEW DELHI: India has the world’s oldest desert locust control programme, dating back to 1939, established by its erstwhile British rule rs. The Locust Warning Organ is at ion(LWO)w as setup in Kara chi after a deadly locust plague between 1926 and 1931.

Between 1939 and 1946, the main function of the organisation was surveillance in the Thar desert and issuance of warnings to the then Indian states about the possibility of desert locust swarms, their movement and breeding, according to the LWO’s Ready Reckoner.

In 1946, theLWOmov ed to Delhi under the directorate of plant protection, quarantine and storage under the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. There were locust outbreaks of in India in 1812, 1821, 1843-44, 1863-67, 1869-73, 1876-81, 1889-98, 1900-1907, 19121920, 1926-1931, 1940-1946, 19491955, 1959-1962, 1978, 1993, 1997, 2005, 2010 according to the LWO.