While Vidarbha is fighting against swarm of desert locusts, the Maharashtra government has alerted Palghar district about the possibility of an attack of these migratory pests. The state government is planning to use drones to spray pesticides on the locusts.
“These locusts travel as per the air flow. They may enter in Palghar district through North Maharashtra and Gujarat. Therefore we have alerted villages especially in Talasari, Dahanu tehsils on Gujarat border. We have asked villagers to be more vigilant in the night. As these locusts mix themselves with the green vegetation, they are not easily noticed. They might land on crops in the evening and by morning, they can damage the whole crop,” Vikas Patil, Joint Director of Agriculture for Kokan region told FPJ.
“Officials of the Agriculture department are visiting the villages and educating the villagers about these locusts. They have been requested to alert the state government whenever they site such locust swarms,” he added.
“State agriculture department is supplying free pesticides to farmers to fight against this menace. The state government is planning to spray pesticides through drones. The government had used hose pipes of fire brigade for spraying pesticides in Vidarbha.
The state government has allowed District Collectors to use 25 per cent of National Disaster Relief fund for purchasing of pesticides, for public awareness against these pests,”Dada Bhuse, Agriculture minister said.
Swarms of crop eating locusts have spread across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and eastern part of Maharashtra. The swarm had invaded farmlands and fruit orchards across Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur and Bhandara.
“Due to timely intervention by the farmers and government, these locusts have not damaged much of the crop,” the Minister stated.
The insects have destroyed crops on thousands of hectares of farmland in the country’s worst locust crisis in three decades.
