Officials deployed, farmers alerted to take locust control measures

Varanasi: As the wave of locust swarms reached the Kusiara village in Halia area of Mirzapur district on Thursday, the administration has started making arrangements for the locust control operations in the district.
Mirzapur chief development officer (CDO) Avinash Singh held a meeting of the officials and took stock of the situation. He deputed teams of officials and staff in the affected area to keep a close watch and take preventive measures.
Besides, the administration of Varanasi and Chandauli districts has also alerted the farmers as well as the government staff to take necessary measures for locust control.In view of the possible invasion of locust swarms in Naugarh area of Chandauli district, the officials of forest and agriculture departments went to the bordering Shansherpur village to alert the farmers and make them aware about the preventive measures.
Meanwhile, district magistrate of Varanasi Kaushal Raj Sharma also gave some tips to the farmers about how to handle the situation. He said that the possibility of locust problem has increased after it affected many districts of the state including Jhansi, Lalitpur and Hamirpur.
The DM also appealed to the farmers to remain vigil and inform the district administration immediately if the problem occurs. The locust swarms can be diverted by making noise. The sandy soil is fit for the breeding of locust, hence the field of sandy soil should be tilled or filled with water to evade the problem.
The DM advised the farmers to use prescribed pesticide to save the crops and contact the Locust Control Organisation, Faridabad in case of the attack of locust swarms so that trained personnel could be sent for effective control measures.
Meanwhile, the central government has also taken measures for the control of locusts. According to a report of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW), control operations are being run in the affected states including Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. For effective control of locusts beyond scheduled desert areas, temporary control camps have been established in Ajmer, Chittorgarh and Dausa in Rajasthan; Mandsaur, Ujjain and Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the report, usually the locust swarms enter the Scheduled Desert Area of India through Pakistan for summer breeding in the month of June/July with the advent of monsoon. This year, however the incursions of locust hoppers and pink swarms have been reported much earlier because of presence of residual population of locusts in Pakistan which they couldn’t control last season. During 2019-20, India witnessed a massive locust attack which was successfully controlled. Locust is an omnivorous and migratory pest and has the ability to fly hundreds of kilometers collectively. It is a trans-border pest and attacks the crop in a large swarm.