National capital Delhi is preparing for any possible invasion by the crop-eating locust swarms in the near future. The Delhi govt has called for preventive measures to tackle what it has called a probable invasion. Officials have been asked to follow 3 broad directives.
- To organize awareness program for public/farmers to control the probable attack
- To try and target the locust at night as they fly during the day and rest at night. The idea is to destroy them before they can fly the next morning
- Spraying of insecticides and pesticides. This has to be done only during the night.
India’s western border with Pakistan has become the battleground against these crop-eating insects. Millions of them are invading villages and cities in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab. Locust swarms this year are much bigger than what we saw in 2019. The agriculture ministry says this is because of the residual locust population in Pakistan from last year.
Many of the remaining locusts multiple manifolds and are now moving towards the south in search of warmer weather. Normally the months of June and July are locust season in India, but this year the first swarms crossed over from Pakistan in April.
The article first appeared on The August