Locust Swarms From Somalia Could Enter India In The Next Two Weeks, Warns UN Agency

The threat of more locust attacks in India is not over yet and there could be more invasions in the coming days, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said.

According to the FAO's Desert Locust situation update which was published on Tuesday, swarms originating in Somalia are moving eastwards across the north and they could continue to migrate across the Indian Ocean to reach the summer breeding areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border.

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"In Pakistan, control operations are in progress against hopper groups and bands in the Nagarparkar area of southeast Sindh near the Indian border. Groups of adults are maturing in Tharparkar and Cholistan deserts where laying is expected in areas that have already received monsoon rains. This will cause a further increase in locust numbers as hatching and hopper band formation occur in the coming weeks," the FAO said in its update.

AFP

As far as India is concerned, the FAO noted that adult groups and swarms are maturing throughout Rajasthan where laying is underway in many areas. "So far, a few hopper groups and bands have formed but substantial hatching is expected in the coming weeks. Control operations are in progress. There have been no recent reports of additional locusts in the northern states as most of the adult groups and swarms have returned to Rajasthan as expected," it said.

In its previous update, earlier this month the FAO had said that spring-bred locust swarms, which migrated to Indo-Pakistan border and travelled east to northern states, are expected to return back to Rajasthan with the start of the monsoon in coming days.

AFP

These swarms will return to Rajasthan 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, it added.

"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," FAO said.

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On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the specialised agency of the United Nations had said that extreme weather events and climatic changes such as increases in temperature and rainfall over desert areas, and the strong winds associated with tropical cyclones, provide a new environment for pest breeding, development and migration of locusts and their attacks are posing a serious threat to food security in parts of East Africa, India and Pakistan.

This year, India witnessed, what was the worst locust invasion in three decades and attacks were reported in more than 2 dozen cities of Rajasthan, MP, Gujarat, UP and Maharashtra.