India facing 'worst locust attack in 27 years'

During the battle of the coronavirus pandemic, India has to fight another battle against the swarms of locusts that have entered the western parts of India.

Swarming locusts are advancing across East Africa, Asia and the Middle East, threatening food supply and livelihoods. At least 20 million people are at risk as governments and scientists race to control the insects.

Its known to all that Desert Locust has been a major pest of semi-arid crops.

Short Description Of Locust

COMMON NAME: Locusts

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Acrididae

TYPE: Invertebrates

DIET: Herbivore

GROUP NAME: Swarm

AVERAGE LIFE SPAN: Several months

SIZE: 0.5 to 3 inches

WEIGHT: 0.07 ounces

Three types of Locust

1. Short-horned grasshoppers
2. Long-horned grasshoppers
3. Crickets

Life span of a locust?

The life span of a locust is just 90 days.

Targeted crops 

The food of locusts is chlorophyll rich leafy vegetables and crops.Desert locusts are insatiable eaters; they consume food equal to their body weight in a day.

Locusts eats leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points, and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in massive numbers.

India fight against Locust 

KL Gurjar, deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organisation, said that "We are battling a major locust attack from across the border. This is the biggest invasion in nearly three decades. The swarms are very big and they have migrated from across the border after breeding a month earlier than we were expecting,"

Drones, tractors and cars have been sent out to track the voracious pests and spray them with pesticides.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has approved procurement of additional 60 sprayers from the UK. Drones are also to be deployed soon.
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation gave approval to DPPQS to deploy Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (drones) for containing the locusts plague. Two companies have been roped in to spray pesticides through the drones.


The Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has stepped up locust control operations in the affected states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, said Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Wednesday in a statement.


The arrival of these insects is certainly not a new phenomenon—within recorded history, India has witnessed several locust plagues since 1812, and their mentions in ancient texts date much further back in history. However, this is the first time in 27 years that India has witnessed the invasion of these pests on such a major scale.