Necessary information regarding Locust Attack.

1. Locust Attack
- Mohammad Arif
• Locusts are the major agricultural pests
of the world.
• Locusts form enormous swarms that
spread across regions, devouring crops
and leaving serious agricultural
in their wake.
• What is a locust attack/invasion/plague.
• When the locusts start attacking crops
and thereby destroy the entire
agricultural economy, it is referred to
as locust plague/locust invasion.

2. Causes
• The report highlighted that after the eggs hatch, they need to
feed on green vegetation for growth and turn into an adult
moth from nymph. Since deserts do not provide leafy cover,
they venture out to the plains so that the large locust
population can grow.
Locust Attack in India 2020
• India is prone to locust attacks.
• The large scale breeding is a consequence of unusual rainfall
which turned into many hoppers and immature adult groups.
Therefore, main reasons behind the locusts infestation can
be attributed to the unseasonal heavy rains during their
breeding season and strong westerly winds.
• It was the worst attack in 27 years.

3. Some other Countries affected by the attack in
2020
• Kenya
About 70,000 hectares (172,973 acres) of land in Kenya are already infested.
• Ethiopia
The hopper bands (young locust populations moving together) have covered nearly 430 square
kilometres and have consumed about 1.3 million metric tonnes of vegetation over a two-month
period.
• Yemen
In January 2019 one of the first swarms reached Yemen and it became one of the first breeding
grounds for the desert locusts and caused them to spread more.
• Iran
In Iran with the rest of the Asian countries the locust started arriving in the first six months of
2019. Also heavy rains in the southwest Iran worsened the situation. The control operations have
been less successful in Yemen and Iran.
And many other countries…

4. Effects of locust attack 2020
General Effects
• Locust swarms devastate crops and cause major agricultural damage, which
lead to famine and starvation. Locusts devour leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark
and growing points, and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they
descend on them in massive numbers.
2020 effects
• Around 2.25m ha land has already been affected as of April 2020.
• 20.2 million people facing severe acute food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
• India - The horticulture and other vegetation have seen the damage. As per
reports nearly 5,00,000 hectares of crops spread over Rajasthan have been
destroyed. 16 out of 52 districts in Gujarat and 17 districts in Uttar Pradesh have
reported an impact too.

5. Precautions/Preventive Steps
• The advisory also said that four chemicals – Melathion 50% EC, Melathion 25%
WP, Chloropyriphos 20% EC and Chloropyriphos 50% EC – should be diluted in
water and sprayed as pesticides on crops in the evening to prevent locust
attacks.
• The union government is coordinating with states governments to restrict locust
attacks. 89 fire brigades for pesticide spray, 120 survey vehicles,
47 control vehicles with spray equipments and 810 tractor mounted sprayers
have been deployed for effective locust control, as per requirement during
different days.

6. Thank You