This story is from June 11, 2020

Locusts reappear in Ramtek, sprayed with drones

Locusts reappear in Ramtek, sprayed with drones
Nagpur: The state agriculture department finally used drones for spraying pesticides on locust swarms on Wednesday.
The two machines reached Nagpur last week and were supposed to be used in areas where the conventional means of spraying like fire tender and tractor mounted pumps could not reach. But the drones could not be put into use as the locust was not spotted after that
The pest which had flown out of Maharashtra reaching Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh was once again seen on Monday.
The swarms had entered the Pench tiger reserve. No spraying was done as it was a protected forest area.
After exiting the forest, the swarm was spotted at Ajni village in Ramtek tehsil on Wednesday where the spraying took place.
Raivindra Bhosle, joint director agriculture (JDA, for Nagpur division said the drones were effective and could reach the inaccessible areas. “Apart from drone, spraying was also done through tractor mounted pumps and fire tenders,” he said.
“The drones had to take multiple sorties because the battery needed to be changed at frequent intervals. At a time the drone could carry 10 litres pesticides,” said Bhosle.

A video shows a drone hovering above a swarm of locust which are then seen scattering away. By sundown the swarms settled in Mohadi village in Mouda tehsil, moving out of Ramtek. The teams have geared up for another round of spraying here. As kharif sowing has not started, there was no risk to the crops, he said.
“The spraying should be done when the locust has settled down after sunset or early in the morning. Since there is moisture due to rains, it may help in killing the pest. Due to the moisture, the pesticide is likely to stay on locust’s body for a longer time,” said Manoj Rai, a locust expert from Centre for Sericulture and Biological Pest Management of Nagpur University.
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