The locust attack has affected about 90,000 hectares across 20 districts in Rajasthan. Favorable rain-bearing winds aided their transport towards India. This quickly growing swarm is now threatening to amplify into an agrarian disaster.

The locusts which entered India were about 10-12 days old and were flying huge distances in search of food. Since the Rabi crop harvesting is over and the Kharif sowing season is yet to begin, they were unable to find any vegetation.

According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) spring-bred locust swarms, which migrated to Indo-Pakistan border and travelled east to northern states, are expected to return to Rajasthan with the start of the monsoon in coming days.

From 1997 to 2010, there were five outbreaks that were controlled. From 2010 to 2018, there were no major swarms or breeding reported, according to the Locust Warning Organization (LWO), in Jodhpur. In 2019, Gujarat and Rajasthan reported a significant surge in locust infestations. Nearly 3.5 lakh hectares of cumin, rapeseed and mustard were damaged, and officials had then said that it was the worst attack since 1993. This was partly due to an unusually long monsoon but also because pest-control operations were inadequate; therefore, nascent populations of the insect had not been wiped out.

locusts are an incredibly special kind of grasshopper. Locusts belong to a family of grasshoppers called Acrididae. The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria), found in various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world because they are highly mobile and can form swarms containing millions of locusts, leading to devastating impacts on crops, pasture and fodder.

There are three forms of swarms: Small pockets confined to certain areas, called outbreaks; slightly larger groups, called an upsurge, that are still geographically confined; and mega groups, called plagues, of locusts that are separated by breeding locations but gather together in swarms. Locusts are believed to become gregarious when they constantly touch each other on their hind legs. The touching and tickling of hind legs release a large amount of serotonin, a ‘happy hormone’ also found in humans and released in the body during exercise. A small swarm (1 km2) can be made up of 80 million locusts and can consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people, while a large swarm can eat up to 1.8 million metric tons of green vegetation, equivalent to food enough to feed 81 million people. Locusts breed amazingly fast and a single female locust can lay egg pods containing anywhere from 80- 150 eggs. Locusts do not attack people or animals.

Locust swarms move quickly and are unpredictable in their movements. This makes it challenging to contain their growth and spread. Safe and effective use of pesticides, including biopesticides, through aerial and ground spraying is necessary to reduce their propagation and prevent their spread to new areas. The World Bank is coordinating closely with the FAO, which is the leading technical agency globally on desert locust control, other partner organizations, and countries to develop integrated pest management plans and to support countries to undertake safe and effective control operations.

The union government is coordinating with states governments to restrict locust attacks. More than 200 locust circle offices and temporary camps are engaged in conduct in surveys and control operations. 89 fire brigades for pesticide spray, 120 survey vehicles, 47 control vehicles with spray equipment’s and 810 tractor mounted sprayers have been deployed for effective locust control, as per requirement during different days.

Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, cautioned against officials lowering their guard. “We should ensure the locust does not become endemic to India and remains seasonal visitors only,” he said.