The Indian government recently ordered 60 sprayers from United Kingdom and allowed deployment of drones for controlling locust swarm that have affected around 50,000 hectares (ha) across Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Meanwhile, the Cotton Association of India (CAI) has appealed to the government for immediate measures to control the menace.
CAI president Atul Ganatra wrote letters to agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and textiles minister Smriti Irani in this regard.
More than 200 locust circle offices and temporary camps are engaged in conducting surveys and control operations. 89 fire brigades for pesticide spray, 120 survey vehicles, 47 control vehicles with spray equipments and 810 tractor mounted sprayers have been deployed for effective locust control, as per requirement during different days, according to Indian media reports.
However, not much damage to crops is reported as sowing has not taken place in most of the areas and harvest of winter crops is over. Cotton crop in some areas of Rajasthan and Punjab are reportedly affected.
Officials said that there are active swarms of immature locust in Barmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Sikar and Jaipur districts in Rajasthan and Satna, Gwalior, Seedhi, Rajgarh, Baitul, Devas, Agar Malwa districts of Madhya Pradesh.
Minister Tomar held a meeting with pesticide manufacturers and other stakeholders early this month to review the preparedness for locust control.
