Locusts Spread to Maharashtra and Punjab
Massive swarms of desert locusts are now headed to Maharashtra and Punjab.
Massive swarms of desert locusts are destroying crops across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Now, these locusts are getting closer to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. In the last 30 years, this is the worst locust attack. These locusts have come from the India Pakistan border. The Agriculture Ministry has said that they are trying to control the locusts by sprinkling insecticide. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar is closely monitoring the situation and held three meetings with various state agriculture ministers and pesticides companies to talk about how to control the locusts. The government may also use drones to spray insecticides. An agriculture department official said, in Maharashtra, swarms of locusts had entered Nagpur district, Wardha district and Amravati in the last four days but it is difficult to predict what direction they will fly in.
A swarm of locusts which was 17 km in length first reached Nagpur district and Wardha district on 23rd May Saturday night and had damaged orange crop and vegetable crops in some areas. Maharashtra and even Punjab have been put on high alert. Locusts belong to the family of grasshoppers and are usually harmless but certain environmental conditions like a monsoon and heavy cyclones make them reproduce faster. In swarm which is 1 kilometre long, there are around 4 to 8 crore adult locusts. Every single day, if they cover 130-150 km, they can eat the food consumed by 35,000 people. They are very dangerous to crops and the government is trying its best to stop the locusts.
