Tackling the locust attack

Giant locust storm likely to attack South Asia farmlands this summer.

Found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, locusts inhabit some 60 countries and can cover one-fifth of Earth's land surface. Desert locust plagues may threaten the economic livelihood of one-tenth of the world's humans. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day.

The coronavirus pandemic is yet not over and a new challenge has very likely set its foot in India already. If media reports are to be believed, a giant locust storm is expected from the Horn of Africa is expected to attack farmlands in South Asia. Earlier in February this year, Punjab and Haryana had reported the attack of locust in its farm, following which the states were put on high alerts. Special supervision teams were also organised in the states to tackle the situation and to spread awareness about the locust attacks.

Two months before, swarms - some billions strong and one the size of Moscow, had ravaged crops in east Africa. And now, a second wave of locusts is expected to make a devastating appearance, even as the COVID-19 continues to claim lakhs of lives from all over the world. 

Now, after those swarms laid eggs, there were likely to be 20 times as many they said.

In India, locusts had come from Rajasthan, which was attacked by one of the most destructive pests in February this year. Later, the authorities in the state undertook a massive exercise to contain the outbreak.

The government was preparing for a “two-front war”— one, which was ongoing against the COVID-19 infections and another to ensure food security — in anticipation of the locust attack on farms, The Hindu reported. 

A few locust swarms were also reported in Anoopgarh and Sri Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan after their attack emanated from the desert area of Pakistan.

While India battles the coronavirus pandemic, four Indian states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat — are also confronting another challenge — a desert locust attack. Sixteen out of 33 districts of Rajasthan are battling the scourge; Madhya Pradesh has reported one of the worst attacks in 27 years in the Nimar-Malwa region; and, Punjab and Gujarat have warned farmers that they could be the next. Reports say that swarms are threatening to touch the Rajasthan-Haryana border, and then could move into Delhi. The current round is the second such attack; the first one was from December to February. India was then moderately successful in tackling the problem, with states deploying teams to spray organophosphate to kill locusts.

The desert locust is one of 12 species of short-horned grasshoppers; its swarms can travel up to 130 km in one day. Each day, a locust can eat its own weight — about two grams of fresh vegetation. This means that they not only devour valuable standing crops, but can also devastate livelihoods of those associated with the agricultural supply chain. The Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that the locust attack could lead to a major threat to food security. Locust attacks are not new to India, but earlier they used to leave India by November. But the swarms stayed on till early 

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