In addition, warning banners are put up to keep people away from such areas. In the case of the desert locust emergency, heavy rains early in the year tipped the balance by providing favourable conditions for breeding in large areas, and prevention was no longer feasible.
Between March to the middle of July, locust swarms were reported from several areas in Pakistan and in as many as seven states in western and northern India. The widespread spraying of harmful chemicals in a large landscape can have an adverse impact, experts said. As the swarms were quite large, large amounts of highly toxic chemical insecticides were used to control their spread, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
When spraying is done near inhabited areas, shepherds, farmers, residents of villages close to areas to be treated are generally instructed to keep a safe distance from the spraying and avoid re-entering the treated area immediately after the insecticide application.
Similarly, drinking water sources should never be over-sprayed. However, if such measures are not respected, risks to consumers may ensue. For local populations living in the areas treated against locusts, it is important to observe re-entry periods, livestock withholding periods and pre-harvest intervals, Food and Agriculture Organization guidelines said. Chemical insecticides used for locust control are insecticides, which means they kill not only just locusts but also other insects and arthropods present in the environment, some of which could be beneficial ones such as honeybees, other pollinators or natural enemies of locusts.
Food and Agriculture Organization strongly recommends that special care is given to ecologically sensitive zones, which include nature reserves, wetlands, etc.
In such areas, anti-locust treatments should be reduced to a minimum and control operations should be performed with low-risk insecticides, such as biopesticides. These recommendations are followed mostly in the breach in India, alleged Ashish Gupta of Gram Disha Trust , a grassroots non-profit that works with smallholder farmers. This has implications for environmental pollution, he maintained. Latchininsky of Food and Agriculture Organization, however, said that in terms of the ecosystem contamination, the times when anti-locust treatments were performed with highly toxic and persistent insecticides such as organochlorines are long over.
Gupta expressed doubts whether this was the case when spraying was done to control the locust swarms. He pointed out that the pesticides that the Indian government has recommended to control locusts include toxic agents such as Malathion, Chlorpyrifos and Deltamethrin. Studies have shown that when in the gregarious phase can change their colour from a dull tan to a striking yellow and black. With this gregarious movement, they feed on crops that are meant for people and livestock.
They feed on a large variety of crops. If not dealt with efficiently early on, locust swarms are capable of threatening the food security of a country.
Some scientific portals claim that a large swarm is capable of eating food meant for people on a day. With monsoon season around the corner, more danger looms. Reports say that heavy rains will provide locust swarms with opportunities to breed and fill the soil with their eggs. When these eggs hatch, the strength of the swarms grows exponentially.
An adult female locust lays eggs thrice in her three-month life cycle. While it has not been reported that locusts are carriers of any diseases that harm humans, large locust swarms often create allergens that aggravate allergies.
Locust attack in VDN Jaipur.. With swarms of locusts spreading from state to another and to major cities, state govt of Odisha on May 27, issued guidelines for farmers and asking them to take preventive steps suggested in this regard.
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