As India continues its battle with the coronavirus pandemic a new kind of invasion is threatening to destroy vital crops and vegetation - the worst locust swarm the country has seen in almost 30 years.
Waves of desert locusts - millions strong and stretching up to 7 km long - crossed into India's western state of Rajasthan from neighboring Pakistan in early May and swarms have since pushed into five different states in search of food. The desert locust is the most destructive of all locust species because of its speed and ability to multiply rapidly, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Adult locusts can fly up to 150 km a day and eat their own body weight - equal to 2 grams - worth of fresh vegetation in that period.
A swarm can vary from one to several hundred square km - with each square kilometer containing up to 80 million adult locusts. The FAO said much of the locust movements were driven by the strong westerly winds in the wake of Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal, which slammed into India and Bangladesh on May 20, killing at least 90 people and causing more than $13.2 billion dollars in damage.
From Rajasthan, the swarm entered Uttar Pradesh - which borders the capital New Delhi - in the north, Madhya Pradesh in central India and Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west, according to India's agriculture minister.
Other states have been put on alert
Jharkhand in the country's east, issued a state-wide alert to farmers to prepare for locust swarms, according to P K Sannigrahi, senior scientist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Knowledge Network in the state. "Lighting a fire, bursting crackers, banging plates and tins, and playing the drums as well can chase locusts away, these insects can't tolerate loud noises," the advisory issued to farmers read.
The New Delhi government also issued an advisory to be prepared if the swarms turned toward the national capital.
Hard-hit states have been carrying out locust control operations that include dispersing the flying insects with drones, tractors, and fire engines. Rajasthan, which was the first to be impacted by the locusts, has been conducting daily operations since May 22. "The locusts were sitting in an area that was 7 km long and 1.5 km wide. We started the control operations along with the Locust Organization team," said B R Karwa, a deputy director of Rajasthan's Agriculture Department.
Karwa added that 11 swarms initially entered the state and three followed the winds onwards toward Madhya Pradesh.
State officials are using 100 tractor-mounted sprayers and 20 fire engines across 11 districts to spray water and pesticides. Drones provided by the central government were also used to spray pesticides in two districts in Rajasthan, according to Karwa. He added that about 70% of the locusts there had been destroyed.
"Several successive waves of invasions can be expected until July in Rajasthan with eastward surges across northern India as far as Bihar and Orissa followed by westward movements and a return to Rajasthan on the changing winds associated with the monsoon," according to the Desert Locust Situation Update issued by the FAO.
Breeding season
The locusts have flown into India from their breeding areas in Pakistan, according to Om Prakash, a Rajasthan-based plant protection officer for the Locust Warning Organization. While locust invasions can be devastating for communities because they pose a threat to food security, India has so far appeared to have escaped from the worst as farmers have not yet begun to sow the new season's crops.
"The locusts were sitting on barren land. The winter crops have been cut and it hasn't rained yet so the new season's crops have not been sown. Those who planted fodder crops or vegetables could chase the locusts away. This time, there wasn't much loss," said Karwa.
Earlier this year, the Horn of Africa was hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years, devastating large swaths of food and pasture in the region.
Millions of locusts invade, How India's Fighting Back
Farmers are being asked to make as much of a racket as possible, using drums, tin containers, utensils and even hiring mobile disc jockeys, in an attempt to scare away locust swarms that are attacking the country.
Millions of locusts are invading several states and there are concerns they might reach New Delhi. Some farmers have been playing loud music through speakers fitted on vehicles in a bid to frighten the insects, said Rahul Srivastava, a superintendent of police in in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district, describing the mobile disc jockey systems normally used at weddings. Citizens have been keeping doors and windows closed to stop locusts entering into their homes.
"In the event of a locust attack, farmers are advised to collectively beat loud drums, tin containers, utensils and use loudspeakers to prevent locusts from descending on farms and damaging crops," Suhas LY, district magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar district, said on Twitter. The government is planning to spray pesticides during the night when locusts rest on trees, he said.
Authorities have cleared locusts from about 50,468 hectares (1,24,709 acres) in several states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra, according to the Union Agriculture Ministry.
A massive locust attack on the country's farms adds another challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, which is trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus and limit its impact on the economy. It cannot risk food crops getting destroyed by the insects at a time when millions have been pushed into poverty after losing their livelihoods because of the world's most stringent stay-at-home rules.
Some summer pulses, early-sown cotton, vegetables and fruit plantations run the risk of destruction from the winged invaders. The silver lining is that the harvesting of winter crops is over and sowing for the monsoon season is yet to begin.
Drones, Choppers
While officials in the affected states are working on measures to control locust swarms, the government is arranging drones to sprinkle pesticides on trees and inaccessible places to kill the insects. There are plans to deploy helicopters for aerial spraying, according to the farm ministry.
As many as 15 sprayers will start arriving from the UK in the next 15 days, followed by 45 more in one-and-a-half months, the farm ministry said Thursday, adding that affected states will be given financial aid, if required.
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Swarms of desert locusts occur irregularly in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, usually when drought is followed by heavy rain. Normally, with the arrival of the monsoon, locust swarms enter the desert areas of India via Pakistan for breeding in June-July, but this year pink adult swarms were reported as early as April 30 in Rajasthan and Punjab.
A member of the Ministry of Food Security's plant protection team shouts and claps his hands while trying to disperse locusts from a wheat field in Balochistan province, Pakistan, on March 6.
This is in part because of the uncontrolled swarms in Pakistan that breed continuously, the ministry said earlier. Swarms of pink immature adults fly high and travel long distances with strong winds coming from Pakistan. Most of them settle on trees during the night and mostly fly during the day.
Further Attacks
The locust movement was helped by strong westerly winds from Cyclone Amphan that hit eastern India last week, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Several successive waves of invasions can be expected until July in Rajasthan. These movements will cease as swarms begin to breed and become less mobile. Swarms are less likely to reach south India, Nepal and Bangladesh, it said on its website.
The control work is in full swing in coordination with states and the Border Security Force, the farm ministry said. There was no information regarding the entry of any new locust swarm from India-Pakistan border areas as of Thursday. However, locusts entered from Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan on Wednesday, with control operations going on, it said. There are some active swarms of immature locusts in some parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
In January, the biggest locust swarm to hit Gujarat in over a quarter of a century resulted in more than 25,000 hectares of wheat, rapeseed, cumin and potatoes being attacked, with at least a third of the crops damaged in 75% of the affected areas, according to the state's directorate of agriculture. A massive locust attack in 2019-20 saw about 4,03,488 hectares treated with pesticides, according to the farm ministry.
