UP CM Adityanath asks officials get ready to deal with locust attacks

With the spectre of locusts looming large over Bundelkhand and the bordering districts of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Adityanath on Friday directed officials to remain alert against locust attacks.

Chairing a high level meeting at his official residence in Lucknow, Adityanath said while measures were needed to prevent crop damage by locusts, it was important to ensure that panic was not created among people.

A total of 15 districts, including the Bundelkhand region, are more prone to the locust attack viz. Jhansi, Lalitpur, Agra, Mathura, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Jalaun, Chitrakoot, Etawah and Kanpur Dehat.

While locusts have entered the state from the neighbouring areas of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, so far there have been no reports of any significant damage to agricultural crops in UP.

Typically, locusts attack in swarms of millions, eating green leaves of all the plants quickly and in humongous quantities. They breed and grow in winter, from November to December, in spring, from January to June and in summer, from July to October.

Since, locust activity increases in less water, drought and summer conditions, special caution is required during the summer season.

Recently, the chief minister had instructed the district magistrates and respective agricultural department officials to take appropriate steps to avert the locust attack. They were asked to avail of funds for the purpose under the Disaster Management Act 2005.

Meanwhile, a control room has been set up at the state level to co-ordinate the steps being taken across the affected districts to curb the raging locust menace. The control room, with the help of its field personnel, will keep track of the movement of locust swarms in these border areas and issue timely advisories to district level officials to thwart locust attacks.

Moreover, a nodal officer, a taskforce and a control room have been instituted at the respective district levels. A detailed advisory, including guidelines and information about the locusts, has been provided to the respective district officials to help them take timely action.

The local residents and farmers have been enlightened on the subject, while the village level committees and bodies have been mobilised to make a coordinated effort against the threat.

The advisory includes making high pitch sounds and noise with the beating of drums, tin canisters, thalis etc by groups of people to disperse and scare away locusts.

In February 2020, the state sugarcane department had issued a similar advisory to farmers, when locust wreaked havoc in neighbouring Pakistan and caused concern in the western Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

At that time, the state farmers were advised to spray the sugarcane crop with insecticides, such as chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos bundiomethrin, fipronil and lambda if locusts were seen in their fields.