English
Bhopal: At a time when India is already fighting the coronavirus crisis, the country is faced with yet another danger in the form of locust attacks that threaten to destroy crops. Locusts entered Rajasthan from Pakistan earlier this month and then drifted into other parts of western India.
Locusts, popularly known as ‘tiddi dal’, are short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory habits and voracious feeding behaviour, known to devour vegetation wherever they settle.
The swarm of locusts has now made its way into Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, and Punjab and Delhi and terrifying visuals of it have gone viral on social media.
This time desert locust attack is severe. They have arrived earlier, in huge numbers & now reached till Panna in MP. The changing climate conditions are linked with locust growth in east Africa. The swarms has potential of eating everything & destroy the crops. This from Panna. pic.twitter.com/8aqLa8lA4O
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) May 26, 2020
Agriculture scientist Jainendra Kanaujia told ANI, “Locusts can be scared away by producing noise by beating of drums and utensils. Chemicals, especially Chlorpyriphos 20 EC diluted in water, can be sprinkled on crops. There is a possibility of great damage to the crops due to locusts. The Agriculture Department and administration is keeping an eye on the issue.”
To protect their farms from these flying monsters, farmers are adopting different strategies. Here are some of them:
In Uttar Pradesh, farmers are scaring away locusts by beating tin drums, plates, etc, and also spraying pesticides on their crops. In Agra, the district administration has deployed 204 tractors mounted with chemical sprays.
A video has emerged from Jhansi, in which a vehicle fitted with loudspeakers, locally known as a ‘DJ vehicle’ is being used to drive the locusts away:
डीजे सिर्फ़ नाच गाने के लिये ही नहीं बल्कि टिड्डी दल भगाने में भी कारगर होता है ।
दिन सबके बदलते हैं !
आप मुँह से आवाज़ निकाल सकते हैं या थाली भी पीट सकते हैं ।#DiscJockey #Locustswarm #locustswarms #Locusts #Locustsattack #LocustInvasion #LocustSwarmsAttack pic.twitter.com/zUcpYiJTGb
— RAHUL SRIVASTAV (@upcoprahul) May 27, 2020
Acting upon the advice, farmers in Budhni and Nasrullaganj areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district have also been beating utensils in a bid to drive away locusts that have attacked their farms.
Whereas in Jabalpur, farmers have arranged water tankers and chemicals for spraying in a bid to drive away locusts. Disinfectants are also being sprinkled on trees and crops to protect them from locusts in these areas.
Farmers in Hoshangabad, Raisen, Sehore, Sagar, Chhatapur, Harda and several other districts are too beating drums, tin cans, burst firecrackers and even arranging bonfires.
(With Agency inputs)
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