A swarm of locusts destroyed crops on Wednesday (May 27) and Thursday (May 28) in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. This district is connected to the borders of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. The locust attack has caused extensive damage to crops in six states, after which the central government has issued a warning to 16 states regarding this.

Uttar Pradesh agriculture officials said that on Wednesday (27 May), a group of locusts reached Madhya Pradesh’s Ghorawal area of ​​Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh in the afternoon and broke the vegetable cultivation of several villages. Jagdish Singh, a local resident, said, “The swarm of locusts flew over the village in several groups and devastated the cultivation of vegetables.” At the same time, Piyush Rai, the district’s agricultural officer, said that there was not much damage because most of the vegetables and other crops were harvested.

Locusts have caused considerable damage to crops in about 100 districts of five states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It is estimated that in the next few weeks, locust swarms may be knocking in the other twelve states. Officials said that there is scope for the second group of locusts to enter India via Pakistan by mid-June, after which its impact in the area will increase considerably.

High alert in Haryana after locust party attack in Rajasthan

Haryana has issued a high alert in seven districts after locust dams attacked crops in neighboring Rajasthan and some other states. Also, an official told on Thursday that there is sufficient amount of pesticide stock to deal with this problem. Chemical-laden tractors have also been deployed for spraying. After damage to crops in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the locust has entered Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, which is said to be the worst attack of pests in 26 years.

Mock drill to tackle grasshopper team in Punjab

In order to combat the grasshopper attack in Jalandhar, Punjab and to make the farmers aware of it, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare conducted a mock drill on Thursday at Kishangarh village on Jalandhar-Pathankot highway. The department formed various teams of experts for mock drills, who made the farmers aware of the harmful pests and their impact on the crop. The teams asked the farmers to be aware and inform the district administration in the matter.

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