New Delhi, 1 August, ANI: Locust control operations have been carried out at 37 places in 11 districts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana during the night of July 30, and have so far covered over 4.56 hectares in 10 states, a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (MAFW) informed on Friday.
“Locust control operations were carried out at 34 places in nine districts viz. Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Churu, Nagaur, Hanumangarh, Jalore and Sirohi of Rajasthan and two places in Gujarat’s Kutch district against swarms and hoppers by LCOs in the intervening night of July 30-31. Besides this, the Haryana State Agriculture Department also carried out control operation at one place in Bhiwani district in the intervening night of July 30-31 against small groups and scattered population of locusts,” the statement from the MAFW said.
It further stated that from April 11, till July 30, control operations had been conducted in over 2,26,979 hectares in several stated across West India.
“Presently, 104 control teams with spray vehicles are deployed in the States of Rajasthan and Gujarat, and more than 200 Central Government personnel are engaged in locust control operations. Further, five companies with 15 drones are deployed at Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Nagaur and Phalodi in Rajasthan for effective control of locusts on tall trees and in inaccessible areas through spraying of pesticides. A Bell helicopter has been deployed in Rajasthan for use in Scheduled Desert Area as per the need. Indian Air Force is also assisting in anti-locust operation by using Mi-17 helicopter,” the statement added.
It further informed that no significant crop losses had been reported in the States of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Haryana. However, some minor crop losses were reported in some districts of Rajasthan.
“Today, swarms of immature pink locusts, adult yellow locusts and/or hoppers are active in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Churu, Nagaur, Hanumangarh, Jalore and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan, Bhiwani district of Haryana and Kutch district of Gujarat,” the statement further informed.
The statement also mentioned that the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Locust Status Update from July 21 indicated that the risk of swarm migration from the Horn of Africa prevails in coming weeks.
“In Somalia, the swarms are moving eastwards across the north and a limited number of swarms could migrate across the Indian Ocean to the Indo-Pakistan border area; during the remainder of this month. Weekly virtual meeting on Desert Locust of South-West Asian countries (Afghanistan, India, Iran and Pakistan) is being organized by FAO. 16 virtual meetings of the technical officers of South West Asian countries have taken place so far,” it said. (ANI)
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