About Locusts:

• Locusts are mostly solitary insects or live in small isolated groups.
• It is an insect that belongs to the family of grasshoppers.
• They are essentially harmless, however, when they meet suitable environmental conditions, they start breeding intensively.
• This majorly happens after a series of strong rains or amid damp environment conditions.
• With their population becoming denser, they form swarms and keep moving across areas damaging the crops.
• A square-kilometre swarm can consume the equivalent of food for 35,000 people in a day, according to UN agencies.
• These swarms attacking crops and thereby devastating the entire agricultural economy is what is commonly referred to as locust plague.
• There are four types of locusts that create a plague – Desert locust, Migratory locust, Bombay locust, and Tree locust
• The swarms that have built up this year are of the Desert locust.

Desert Locust

• The Desert locust is among the most dangerous migratory pests in the world.
• Found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, this species inhabits an area of about six million square miles, or 30 countries, during a quiet period, according to National Geographic.
• A desert locust swarm can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million locusts into less than half a square mile.

The attack this time:

• According to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, “Locust swarm from Pakistan has entered, threatening major damage to standing cotton crops and vegetables. Rajasthan is the most affected state”
• The normal locust season in India spans June-November and coincides with the kharif season.
• During the current year, the swarm of locusts has entered India earlier than their normal time.
• They were spotted along the India-Pakistan border before mid-April this time and their movement after damaging the growing rabi crops along western Rajasthan and parts of northern Gujarat during December-January has raised the alarm bells in the surrounding areas, especially Punjab.
• Outbreaks of the insect attack have been reported from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Tough times ahead:

• Huge crop losses are predicted if the swarms are not stopped by June when the monsoons will lead to a new season of sowing rice, sugarcane, cotton and other crops.
• The national lockdown has made the availability of pesticide as well as its transportation difficult.
• With labour also not available easily due to the lockdown, this could affect spraying operations and, as a result, allow locusts to cause significant damage.
• Several successive waves of invasions are likely until July in Rajasthan, with eastward surges across northern India as far as Bihar and Odisha followed by westward movements and a return to Rajasthan on the changing winds associated with the monsoon.
• So far swarms have been recorded in nearly 50,000 hectares in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and if they continue to thrive as the monsoon arrives, it could cause serious agricultural damage.

Climate link:

Indian Ocean Dipole

• Is a phenomenon in which the western and eastern parts of the Indian ocean warm differentially- a substantive factor in bringing excessive rains to India and West Asia.
• A ‘positive’ dipole is when the western part is hotter than the eastern one.
• Last year,one of the strongest positive dipoles was witnessed in the Indian neighbourhood causing torrential rainfall in India.
• This extra rainfall in several parts of West Asia, Oman, Yemen and in the Horn of Africa — Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya filled dry sand with heavy moisture, facilitating the formation of several locust swarms
• Favourable winds helped swarms fly and breed in traditional grounds in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
• A national state of emergency was announced in Somalia due to the outbreak in February 2020, in Pakistan for the second time this year, in April.
• Several abnormal spells of rainfall over north and western India from March to May leading to unusually mild summer, also helped the insects breed this year.

Prevention:

• Weather patterns and historical locust records help experts predict where swarms might form.
• Once identified, an area is sprayed with chemicals to kill locusts before they can gather.

Locus control measures:

• Locust survey and control are primarily responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Co-operation & Farmers Welfare in locust affected States and operations are also undertaken by Locust Warning organisation (LWO). There are also several Locust Circle Offices (LCO’S) that assist with survey and control operations. During times of outbreaks and plagues, external assistance from the donor community and other international organizations is usually required.

Other agencies

• Apart from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, other ministries (External Affairs, Home Affairs, Defence, Earth Sciences, Civil Aviation and Communications) and stakeholders (e.g. State Governments, Health Department, farmers) are to be involved during a Desert Locust emergency. The role and responsibilities of these stakeholders is defined in the implementation part of the plan.

Control methods:

• Mechanical methods – digging trenches, beating and burning
• Baiting – scattering locust food impregnated with insecticide
• Dusting – applying a fine dust impregnated with insecticide
• Spraying liquid insecticides.

Locust Warning Organisation (LWO),

• Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), established in 1939 and amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for monitoring, survey and control of Desert Locust in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in the States of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Its objectives include:

• To monitor, forewarn and control locust in Scheduled Desert Area (SDA) being International obligation and commitment.
• To conduct research on locust and grasshoppers.
• Liaison and coordination with National and International Organizations.
• Human resource development through training and demonstration for staff of Locust Warning Organization (LWO), State officials, BSF personnel and Farmers.
• To maintain control potential to combat locust emergency by organizing locust control campaign.
• The Department has established 11 Locust Control Offices (LCOs) established under LWO in Scheduled Desert Area of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The LWO monitors, forewarns and controls locust in Scheduled Desert Area, conduct research on locust and grasshoppers, keep liaison and coordination with National and International Organizations and undertakes HRD through training and demonstration.

Organisation

• Headquarters- Faridabad
• Field Offices - Jodhpur, Barmer, Phalodi, Churu, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner,Bhuj (Kutch), Palanpur (BK) , Jalore, Suratgarh

Scheduled Desert Area of India

The Scheduled Desert Area of India is spread over 3 states

• Rajasthan -Alwar, Barmer , Bikaner, Churu, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Sikar, Sriganganagar
• Gujarat -Amreli, Banaskantha, Bhuj, Halar Jamnagar
• Haryana -Mohindergarh