LOCUSTS ENTER MP, HARYANA, RAJASTHAN
NEWDELHI: Crop-munching locust swarms have entered Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh a month in advance and pose a major threat to standing crops and vegetables, the Union environment ministry warned in a statement on Friday. It said Rajasthan is the most affected state and added the swarm has entered earlier than expected. “States are adopting various means for controlling the swarm,” the statement said.
Soumitra Dasgupta, the ministry’s additional director general (wildlife), said though they do not deal with locusts, they were informed by ground staff and wildlife wardens about the swarms. “So, we have shared the information from the western states,” said Dasgupta.
HT on Friday reported India is on the alert for the desert locusts, which according to the UN pose a “severe” risk to the country’s agriculture this year. A top pestmonitoring agency has flagged signs of an early-than-usual summer invasion of the species of grasshoppers from across Pakistan and prompted the government to consider importing equipment from the UK, apart from deploying drones, satellitederived tools, special fire-tenders and sprayers at border locations.
KL Gurjar, deputy director, plant protection, Locust Warning Organisation, Union agriculture ministry, said the locusts that have arrived are sub-adults flying very high and covering huge distances fast. “They have reached up to Morena and Gwalior in MP with the help of westerly winds. Swarms were also seen in Haryana bordering areas like Jhunjhunu. These have come from Pakistan, Baluchistan and Iran, which are their breeding area. Because they are sub-adults, there is a risk of egglaying which we are trying to contain.”
“We had a locust attack in 2019 after 26 years. This is the second consecutive year that swarms are arriving,” Gurjar said.
MP principal secretary, department of farmer welfare and agriculture, Ajit Kesari said, “The government of India has released ~51 lakh for purchase of chemicals. We are keeping stock of chemicals in all the districts. Our instructions to all these districts are to track the locusts and spray chemical wherever they settle at night. So their number is decreasing by the day. Wherever they settle ,the area is chemically treated to destroy the eggs.”