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Locust swarms enter Chhattisgarh’s Koriya, district on alert

Hindustan Times, Raipur | ByRitesh Mishra | Edited by Meenakshi Ray
Jun 01, 2020 10:17 AM IST

India is currently seeing the worst locust attack in more than seven decades as locust swarms from Pakistan now threaten to devastate crops and vegetables over thousands of hectares in states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan is now the most affected state.

Desert locust swarms entered in two villages in Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district bordering Madhya Pradesh on Sunday evening, prompting the agriculture department to issue an alert and set up a control room.

DM Rathore, Koriya’s collector, said a chemical was sprayed in Kirri and Jwaratola under the Bharatpur block and the administration has managed to control the movement till now.

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“On Sunday, it was a small swarm and we managed to contain their movement by spraying chemicals and using sirens of fire brigades. Most of them have died. We have not been affected till now,” Rathore said.

On May 27, the Chhattisgarh agriculture department and farmers of districts bordering Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra had been alerted after swarms of locusts attacked crops in the neighbouring states.

India is currently seeing the worst locust attack in more than seven decades as locust swarms from Pakistan now threaten to devastate crops and vegetables over thousands of hectares in states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan is now the most affected state.

The desert locust is a species of locust, a swarming short-horned grasshopper that devours everything in their path. Entomologists have said the current swarm of locusts contains immature locusts that could gorge on the crops before getting ready for mating.

Besides, villagers have been advised to form groups and make noise by beating plates and tin boxes to drive away the crop-destroying insects.

“Every bordering district of Chhattisgarh is on alert. Since they don’t have any fixed trajectory, it is wind direction which carries them. Every morning they track the wind direction and move forward,” Maninder Kaur Dwivedi, principal secretary (agriculture), said while speaking to HT.

“Earlier Bhandara (Maharashtra) locust swarm was expected to arrive in Kawadha district but the wind changed direction so it went towards Nagpur. On Friday, a swarm of locust which was reported in Balaghat and Mandla (Madhya Pradesh) went towards Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh). On Sunday, one of the swarms reached Koriya,” Dwivedi added.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) may declare the locust invasion a “plague” if it takes a turn for the worse by end of this year following successful breeding in India, Pakistan, and in west Africa. The locust invasion has been currently categorised as an “upsurge” by FAO.

The desert locust was expected to remain limited to its desert habitat, but it scattered to Madhya Pradesh (MP), Uttar Pradesh (UP), and Maharashtra because of the strong north-westerly winds following super cyclone Amphan last week.

And, now eastern states such as Jharkhand and Odisha have been asked to remain on alert against the locust swarms.

Jharkhand’s agriculture department has issued an alert across all 24 districts in the state and has set up state, district and block level task forces to deal with the impending threat.

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