Issue of Locust Attack in Rajasthan :

It's not uncommon to see a swarm of locusts covering the skies over Rajasthan. However, this year's locust invasion in the region is something very few alive today have witnessed in their lives. Locust attack this season has been the worst and longest in the last 60 years in Rajasthan. The insects, called desert locusts, have affected a whooping 3.6 lakh hectares of crops across ten districts of Rajasthan so far.

Locusts fly from Africa to middle eastern countries, enter Pakistan in massive numbers, and breed again before entering India. The heavy and widespread rains in east Africa since October 2019 are said to be the primary trigger for the current epidemic.

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that this is the worst situation in 25 years for eastern Africa, and unusual weather and climate conditions have contributed to it. Experts hint at a further increase in locust swarms until June due to the continuation of favourable ecological conditions for Locust breeding.

Rajasthan bears the brunt :

Rajasthan and Gujarat started to witness the attacks in May last year, and a significant amount of kharif crop (July-Sep) was damaged during the summers due to the insects. Since then, around ten swarms have entered India from across the international border. Now, the attack has turned worse, damaging the rabi crops (Oct-Mar), including wheat, gram, mustard, cumin and taramira, across the western states. Adding to the farmers' woes, the widely used chloro pesticide has proven ineffective in controlling the large numbers of these pests.

In Rajasthan, the worst affected district is Sriganganagar, where damages to standing crop go up to 75%. Parts of Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Nagaur and Sirohi are also highly affected. In the neighbouring state of Gujarat, too, several districts are suffering due to the locust plague. During December, Gujarat suffered extensive crop loss of almost 6000 hectares, with five districts facing the attack.

Threat to food security :

The concern is grave for the farmers, as even a small swarm of mere one sq km (about 40 million locusts) can eat food equivalent to 35,000 people in one day. Apart from eating leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, tree bark and shoots, they can damage massive amounts of crops just by their sheer weight, as billions of these insects invade together. Experts say that even a small swarm can eat food equivalent to 10 elephants or 25 camels.

East Africa is also continues to face the severe outbreak of locusts, with swarms of vast sizes of more than 2000 sq km in some cases. The affected parts include Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea. The locusts attack is worsening the already bad food security situation in the region.

In India, the locusts have attacked crops worth ?50 lakh during the last locust plague cycle (1959-62) and worth ?10 crores during 1926-31 plague cycle. Since 1962, no locust plague cycle has been reported. However, large scale attacks were reported during 1978 and 1993, says a report from The Indian Express.

Locusts are usually solitary, but are known to become swarms as their population increases under suitable conditions of a dry phase followed by rapid vegetation growth. Experts say that locusts can cause more damage than even a drought, as they can wipe out an entire field full of standing crops within a matter of minutes. Six months ago, in June 2019, the Sardinia island in Italy witnessed the worst locust outbreak in six decades that destroyed over 6000 acres of agricultural land.

Government Action :

The Rajasthan Government has pressed the panic button over the locust attacks in 12 districts and in the neighbouring states of Gujarat and Punjab. Taking a cue from Pakistan it has asked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the insect attacks as a national calamity. Last week Pakistani Government had announced a state of national emergency due to the attacks. Rajasthan shares its international border with Pakistan and the Gehlot Government fears that the locust calamity in the neighbouring country could further impact the agriculture economy of the desert state.