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Massive locust invasion in Gujarat
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- Sharing borders with neighbouring Pakistan, Gujarat is under attack from hoppers — new-born locusts that have flown in across the international border. As swarms mature, they have ravaged farms in North Gujarat, devastating farmers in 3 border districts Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch.
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- Havoc on crops: The locusts, known as tiddis locally, have wreaked havoc on standing crops of castor, cumin, jatropha, cotton, and potato, and fodder grass in Gujarat.
- Worst since 1993:
(1) Gujarat has not witnessed such an invasion of locusts since 1993-94.
(2) The last major upsurge in 1993, saw the incursion of 172 locust swarms.
- Predicted Warning
(1) FAO’s Warning: According to local experts, the State administration has been caught napping despite an alert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of a massive locust attack in South Asia covering Pakistan and India.
(2) Locust Warning Organization (LWO),Jodhpur Warning: it had noticed the swarms and predicted their trajectory across the international border.
(a) Preventive measures by the authorities were not taken.
- About the Insect:
(1) Locust Swarms are usually found in the Horn of Africa, West Asia and Indian Subcontinent.
(2) The insects fly in during the day and settle on the farms at night making it difficult to ward off the swarms.
(3) They have the potential to damage the livelihood of a tenth of the world’s population.
(4) They travel at 16-19 Kmph & swarms can cover 130km or more in a day.
(5) Usually there are 40 million, and sometimes as many as 80 million locust adults in each sq km of a swarm.
(6) Locust invasion usually occur in areas that receive less than 200mm of rain annually, which is an area of about 16 million sq Km consisting of about 30 countries.
(7) India has only one locust breeding season- July to October.
- Controlling the Swarms:
(1) Spraying small amounts of concentrated insecticides using vehicle mounted aerial sprayer.
Sources
The Hindu