India’s efforts to deal with the locust problem is the oldest in the world. The British government established the Locust Warning Organisation in Karachi in the year 1939 in view of the locust plague the country suffered from 1926 to 1931. Now, this unique organisation is under the Union ministry of agriculture and is headquartered in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

At present, the country is grappling with locust plague, a threat to food security, as well as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion. More than 100 districts, across 10 states of the country including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, are reeling under locust attack. In Uttar Pradesh, several districts such as Jhansi and Mahoba have been affected, and the locust swarms reaching Delhi and Gurugram made national headlines.

Worse, the ongoing locust attacks, which started late last year, can further intensify between mid-July and August-September. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has declared an alert while many political parties and farmers’ organisations in India are demanding declaration of the locust attack as a national calamity.

Recently, Union agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar admitted that the ongoing locust attack is the strongest in 26 years and assured the central government is working with the states to control it. He informed drones and helicopters are being used and special machines have been sought from abroad.

Pesticides are being sprayed to control the swarms in the affected areas like Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, from helicopters from June 30. India has also become the first country in the world where drones are being used for the purpose. According to the ministry of agriculture said five companies have been deployed with 12 drones till July 6.

But, all this may be too little, too late. Gaon Connection has been reporting on the locust attack, which was initially limited to Rajasthan and Gujarat, but now has spread to several other states.

Food & Agriculture Organization raises alarm

During the lockdown, the government assured people that India had enough grains to last another year. Ration at free and partial rates was also announced for the poor up to this year Diwali, as the food godowns of the country are well stocked. But, the situation could change in the wake of severe locust attacks happening not just in India, but also in Pakistan and several other countries in Africa, such as Kenya or Somalia. Fear of starvation deaths rules high.

Locusts are rebreeding in many parts of Pakistan bordering India, Iran and African countries. The FAO has advised Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, and India to remain on high alert during the next four weeks.

According to the locust status update released by FAO on July 3, “In southwest Asia, many of the spring-bred swarms migrated to the Indo-Pakistan border before the monsoon rains so some swarms continued east to northern states and a few groups reached Nepal. These swarms will return to Rajasthan with the start of the monsoon in the coming days to join other swarms still arriving from Iran and Pakistan, which is expected to be supplemented by swarms from the Horn of Africa in about mid-July. Early breeding has already occurred along the Indo-Pakistan border where substantial hatching and band formation will take place in July that will cause the first-generation summer swarms to form in mid-August.”

The fresh locust attacks are expected when farmlands in the country are covered with a variety of kharif (rainy season) crops such as paddy, moong, urad, cotton, and soybean. However, on July 8, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar allayed fears and tweeted, “Even during the lockdown, the agriculture sector has emerged stronger than ever before. The rabi (winter) crop yield has been 152 metric tonnes this time, higher than 144 metric tonnes from the last year. The sowing of kharif crop has increased by 88%, this time 432.97 lakh hectares area has been cultivated as against 230.03 lakh hectares last year.”

But locust plague issue is getting politically charged up. Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, an ally in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, launched an agitation on social media on July 10 seeking the declaration of locust plague as a national calamity and to compensate farmers for their losses. Rajasthan’s Nagaur’s member of parliament Hanuman Beniwal has appealed to the people to join the movement. Several leaders and farmers’ organisations from Rajasthan have already put forth the same demand.

Farmers are also demanding compensation by uploading photos and videos of locust attacks from their fields on social media.

Locust plague and global hunger

Apart from India, several other countries are at present reeling under locust attacks. India is facing such severe attacks for the first time in 26 years, Pakistan in 27 years, the East African country of Kenya in 70 years and Somalia after 25 years. It is being claimed that climate change has led to a ‘favourable weather’ (humid due to incessant rains) for the breeding of locusts. If locust swarms are not controlled before breeding, their population may explode further by 20 to 400 times, and the crisis may spiral out control. 

According to FAO, a grasshopper weighing about 2 grams can eat at par its body weight each day. A locust swarm can have up to 40 million locusts, which means a swarm of locusts can devour food adequate for 35,000 people. A locust swarm also has a wide coverage spreading across several kilometers.

In many East African countries, including Kenya, swarms of hungry locusts have rapidly devoured crops and vegetation and led to a food security crisis. This may lead to starvation and hunger in many countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Somalia already facing food scarcity and economic crises.

The locust crisis in Pakistan and Somalia has already been declared as a national calamity. The army has also taken a front against locust situation with the Agriculture Department in Pakistan. 

Braving all odds during the COVID-19 crisis, the Indian farmers have, so far, managed to produce good crops and maintain the pace of agriculture, but the way Somalia and Kenya have been affected by the locust situation, agriculture in India too may receive a setback from it.

International cooperation and integrated effort –the need of the hour

Locusts lay eggs in the desert. The area near the Pakistan border, where locust breeding is most robust, adjoins India. It is therefore vital to curb their rebreeding and upsurge in Pakistan. As per the Associated Press of Pakistan, the joint teams of the Pakistan ministry of food security, provincial agriculture departments, and the army are engaged in eradicating the swarms in 32 districts of the country. In Pakistan, the national locust control centre is leading the effort.

Apart from Pakistan, the locust upsurge also needs to be controlled in Iran for India’s benefit. For this, India has already sent over 25 metric tonnes of Malathion, a pesticide, to Iran for locust control.

Are these efforts enough to control the locust attacks? Coming few months will tell.