Locust attacks controlled at four locations in Jaipur

JAIPUR: Jaipur district has witnessed 23 locust attacks since May 20 with the recent one being on Saturday. District agriculture department’s team and a team from locust warning organization (LWO) controlled the attacks at four different locations from 2am to 9am in Jaipur on Sunday morning. The last attack in Jaipur took place on June 13.
“Some locations were in Hasanpura, Muhana Mandi and Nevta (10X1 km). The other locations were in Mandaur, Phagi and Labana (4X1 km). The pests covered an area of 525 hectares. We controlled the locusts using 170 litres of pesticides - lemda silothrin (5%) and chloropyriphos. The locusts attacked agricultural lands of 270 farmers,” said B R Karwa, deputy director, agriculture zila parishad (extension). Jaipur recently received 2,000 litres of pesticides through a World Bank-sponsored project - Rajasthan Agriculture Competitiveness Project.
It may be mentioned that Pakistan refuses to cooperate with India on the locust issue as it skipped a bilateral meeting on locust control on Thursday.
The external affairs ministry of Pakistan reportedly did not allow its officials to take part in the meeting.
Meanwhile, a fresh warning was issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of more locust attacks in June along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border.
Locust incursion from Pakistan continues in Jaisalmer and Barmer. At present, the locusts have entered over 45 districts of five states including Rajasthan.
More than 100 teams and 25 drones have been deployed by the Locust Control Department in the state.