Indian Air Force joins battle against locust menace
By Sudhir Kumar
Indian Air Force has joined battle against the menace of locust in different parts of the country. An Indian Air Force’s Mi-17 helicopter sprayed pesticides over large swathes of desert land in Jodhpur district on Sunday, the first such instance in the history of the air force.
A private helicopter, hired by the Agriculture Ministry, had started locust control operations on Saturday carrying out its first sortie in the desert areas of Banda in Jaisalmer.
Centre has stepped up efforts and is using the latest technology and equipment like drones and Bell helicopters to control the menace.
India is facing the worst-ever locust attacks in three decades. Swarms of the marauding pests have been witnessed in various districts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that India should remain on “high ” during the next four weeks. It said, locust swarms that have traveled as far as Nepal are expected to return to Rajasthan and join other swarms coming from Pakistan and Iran for the breeding season this month.
These swarms will return to Rajasthan to join other swarms still arriving from Iran and Pakistan, which is expected to be supplemented by swarms from the Horn of Africa in about mid-July, it added.
“Early breeding has already occurred along the Indo-Pakistan border where substantial hatching and band formation will take place in July that will cause the first-generation summer swarms to form in mid-August,” FAO said.
India and Pakistan as well as Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia should remain on “high alert during the next four weeks,” it noted.
According to the Union Agriculture Ministry, swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are active in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Dausa, and Bharatpur of Rajasthan, and Jhansi and Mahoba districts of Uttar Pradesh.