Coronavirus pandemic, Amphan, dust-storms, earthquakes – just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, another disaster is on its way!
According to the Economic Times, large swarms of locusts have entered India and are about to destroy crops spread out in over 200,000 hectares. Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh are preparing themselves to fight a massive locust attack.
These locusts, entering from Pakistan, pose a major threat to the cotton crops and vegetable fields.
16 out of 33 districts in Rajasthan are already affected. 15 districts in MP are likely to get affected. Haryana and Punjab have been alerted.
Rajasthan has asked the central government for help to battle the locust attack. They have asked for spraying machines, drones, and helicopters that would spray pesticides in order to curb the damage.
“Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned of a large-scale locust outbreak this year and the impact will be 2-3 times higher than that of the previous year,” said Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Lal Chand Kataria.
Till now, the agricultural department has controlled the attacks across 14,299 hectares. However, the latest attack has got them worried.
At a time when the country’s economy is already threatened, locusts infestation on crop fields will cause even more damage! We hope that authorities take appropriate actions.