Airlines warned of flight disruption by locust swarms
INDIA warned airlines last Friday (29) that passenger flights could be disrupted and planes damaged by the unprecedented locust swarms currently plaguing large stretches of the country.
The worst insect invasion in nearly three decades has already caused massive damage to seasonal crops, crippling Indian farmers struggling with the impact of a months-long national coronavirus lockdown.
The swarms have now become so large that the civil aviation ministry said they “pose a threat to aircraft in the critical landing and take off phase of the flight.”
“Though an individual locust is small in size, impact of large numbers on the windshield is known to have impacted the pilot forward vision,” said an advisory from the ministry.
The ministry urged airlines to avoid any swarms, which had the potential to enter air inlets and damage flight instruments.
Drones, tractors and cars have been sent out to track the voracious pests and spray them with pesticides. The locusts have already destroyed nearly 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres) of cropland. “Eight to 10 swarms, each measuring around a square kilometre are active in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,” the government’s Locust Warning Organisation’s deputy director KL Gurjar said.
The insects caused massive damage to seasonal crops in both states and also destroyed harvests in the agricultural heartlands of neighbouring Pakistan in before entering Rajasthan.
Smaller swarms are also active in a handful of states across India, Gurjar said. A swarm of 40 million locusts can eat as much food as 35,000 people – or six elephants – according to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Residential areas in Rajasthan’s Jaipur were overwhelmed by the insects. Experts warn the situation could worsen with more expected to reach India via Pakistan from the Horn of Africa in June.
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