In the third attack in the past six months, swarms of locusts from Iran and Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan have invaded parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab, compounding the woes of farmers, who are battling the coronavirus nationwide lockdown.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has convened a high-level meeting with fertilisers and pesticides companies to discuss the course of action against the locusts. This is the third attack of locusts in less than a year, the worst one began in December and lasted till February of this year.
According to global reports, locust swarms are expected to arrive all the way from East Africa and attack farmlands in South Asia in the coming months. According to Locusts Warning Organisation of Ministry of Agriculture, 31 spots in Rajasthan and Gujarat are under attack of locusts, covering thousands of hectare.
After a high-level meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh has assured help. “The Government has ordered new machines from the UK to control locust swarms. Tractor-mounted sprayers and fire-tender vehicles are deployed at various locations in these States for locust control. Additional equipment also being procured,” he said.
In a statement, the Agriculture Ministry said that normally, locust swarms enter the desert areas of India via Pakistan for breeding in the summer of June-July, but this time Locust Hoppers as well as Pink Adult Swarms had entered border districts of Rajasthan and Punjab in April itself.
“One reason for this was the uncontrolled swarms of the previous season in Pakistan that breed continuously. Swarms of Pink Immature adults fly high and travel long distances with strong winds coming from Pakistan. Most of these Pink Immature adults settle on trees during the night and mostly fly during the day,” it said.
The Ministry said that the Hoppers and Pink Swarms have been controlled at 145 spots covering in an area of 14,299 hectares of Jaisalmer, Sri Ganganagar, Jodhpur, Barmer and Nagaur districts in Rajasthan and Fazilka district of Punjab. Presently, swarms of immature Pink Locusts are active in Barmer, Phalodi (Jodhpur), Nagaur, Sriganganagar and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan. Around 10 Locust Circle Offices of Government of India located in Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Phalodi, Barmer, Jalore, Churu, Nagaur, Suratgarh districts of Rajasthan; Palanpur and Bhuj districts of Gujarat are working in scheduled desert area of more than 2 lakh sq km in India.
In the last few days, medium-sized swarms of locusts have attacked crops in at least 12 districts including Ajmer, Pushkar, Jaisalmer, Fazilka, Nagore, Barmer and Sri Ganga Nagar in Rajasthan. The locusts have damaged crops in about 9,000 hectares in districts of like Sriganganagar, Jaisalmer Barmer, Jodhpur and Nagaur over the past 10 days. Farmers in Rajasthan are now struggling to scare the swarms away using thick smoke and authorities have started spraying insecticides.
However, it was widely anticipated that locusts had laid eggs on Rajasthan’s fields during the previous attack that lasted till February. These eggs are likely to hatch and mature into the winged creatures once again this time around. Locusts eat leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend in massive numbers.
At the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing on Tuesday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot drew the PM attention on locust attack which destroyed crops and vegetation in 12 districts and sought help from the centre. Several districts of Gujarat and Punjab are also affected.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), of the United Nations in its latest update, suggesting the conditions for invasions by locust, had become more worrisome in May and June. According to the update, migration from the spring breeding areas in Baluchistan has commenced, and several immature adult groups and swarms of locusts have appeared since May 2 in Rajasthan.