India and Pakistan are intensifying their cooperative efforts to curb the swarm movement of locusts that pose a threat to crop survival in border districts. This team effort includes sharing essential information such as satellite data through the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), in order to limit the potential damage caused by these insects.
Food and Agricultural Organization
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) was established in Quebec City, Canada in 1945, during the first session of the newly created United Nations. The FAO leads global initiatives to eradicate hunger. It serves as a repository of knowledge and information, fostering the development of improved agricultural, forestry and fisheries practices in developing and transitioning countries to ensure food security and proper nutrition for all.
About Locusts
Locusts are predominantly tropical grasshoppers, renowned for their powerful flight abilities. Unlike regular grasshoppers, they undergo behavioural changes or “gregarize”, forming swarms capable of traveling long distances. They are typically active from summer to the rainy season, with sightings peaking in June and July. Further aided by favourable ecological conditions, including good rainfall, locust populations can surge significantly, multiplying up to 20-fold within a three-month span. A single locust can travel up to 150 km in a day.
Locusts – A Threat to Vegetation
Adult locusts have a voracious appetite, capable of eating their own weight in fresh vegetation daily. This is roughly equivalent to two grams per locust. A modest-sized swarm can consume as much as 35,000 people do in one day, posing a devastating threat to crops and overall food security. Uncontrolled infestations lead to plagues that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and several years to manage, bringing about severe implications for food security and livelihoods.
Measures for Locust Control
Several measures have been established to manage locust invasions. These include destroying the egg masses laid by invading swarms, trapping nymphs with trenches, utilizing hopperdozers (wheeled screens that cause locusts to fall into water and kerosene-filled troughs), using insecticidal baits, and spraying insecticides from aircraft onto swarms and breeding grounds. The FAO assists in this effort globally providing information and issuing timely warnings to countries at risk of invasion.
“`
| Locust Species in India |
|---|
| Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) |
| Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria) |
| Bombay Locust (Nomadacris succincta) |
| Tree Locust (Anacridium sp.) |
“`
Locusts in India
The ongoing locust swarms entering India through Pakistan originated in Iran. Their migration is prompted by the summer dusty winds blowing from the Arabian Sea, aiding their journey from Sindh in Pakistan to western Rajasthan in India. Though these creatures have caused extensive damage in Pakistan, Indian crops remained unaffected so far. The Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) of Jodhpur is currently managing 13-16 locust swarms in the Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of Rajasthan, using the pesticide ‘malathion’. The last major locust outbreak reported in Rajasthan was in 1993.
The Role of the Locust Warning Organization (LWO)
The Locust Warning Organization (LWO) is part of the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage in the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. It is responsible for monitoring, surveying, and controlling Desert Locusts in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The LWO actively prevents invasion of foreign locust swarms into India through effective control operations. By keeping abreast with the local and global locust situation via FAO’s monthly Desert Locust Bulletins, the LWO conducts research on locusts and grasshoppers, coordinates with national and international organizations, develops human resources through training and demonstration, and maintains a robust control potential to address locust emergencies.
