Swarms of desert locusts attack Gurugram; Likely to enter Delhi
Gurugram, June 27: Swarms of desert locusts attacked Gurugram on Saturday right next to national capital Delhi. Multiple videos shot by residents of Gurugram city and villages show thousands of locusts covering the sky near the Cyber Hub area of Gurgaon.
The Gurugram administration had issued an advisory on Friday to keep windows, doors shut in the event of such an attack after a swarm was sighted in the Mahendragarh district.
Navy helicopter to be used to tackle new locust attack in Rajasthan
The administration had asked the residents to clang utensils to ward off the locust attack.
Massive swarms of desert locusts have ravaged parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and few other states for over a month after the swarms entered the country from Pakistan, termed as one of the worst in the past two decades.
Pakistani Locusts achieved what Pakistani airforce could never do, by reaching interiors of India 😆
— Vishal. (@glahsiv) June 27, 2020
#LocustsAttack in Gurgaon. pic.twitter.com/lpAz3jvuCf
Are Locust tasty when cooked?
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) June 27, 2020
Asking for friends in Gurgaon.....!#LocustsAttack pic.twitter.com/CAKoiFWptQ
Adding to the already existing woes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is the locust attack that threatens the damage standing crops and mess with the food security in the country.
According to UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a swarm the size of Paris can eat the same amount of food in a day as half the population of France (based on the calculation that one person eats 2.3 kg of food a day).
These migratory pests can migrate over large distances. The desert locust, now found in India is said to be the most destructive. They can form dense swarms in response to environmental stimuli.
During a plague, it has the potential to affect 20 per cent of the Earth's land and also damage the livelihood of one-tenth of the world's population.
Recently, the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, advised farmers to spray chemicals like lambdacyhalothirn, deltamethrin, fipronil, chlorpyriphos, or malathion to bring things under control.
However, On May 14, the Centre had banned the use of chlorpyriphos and deltamethrin. Malathion is also included in the list of banned chemicals but has been subsequently allowed for locust control.