Packing batteries with more punch
Indian researchers are working on cells that can store more energy, last longer
Locust invasions will continue in India till July and the pesky insects can reach all the way up to Odisha and Bihar with the monsoon winds and will return to Rajasthan subsequently, according to a top UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) official. However, he said, the swarms are less likely to reach South India, Nepal and Bangladesh
“Spring-bred immature adult groups and swarms that arrived in Rajasthan from the west continued to move east (to) eastern parts of the State and to the central States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. As on May 26, at least one swarm had reached the north-east of Bhopal,” said Keith Cressman, Senior Locust Forecasting Officer at the FAO, in Rome.
“Much of these movements were associated with strong westerly winds from cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal. Control operations are underway,” Cressman told BusinessLine in an email. He said these movements will cease as swarms begin to breed and become less mobile.
What surprised farmers and experts alike, however, is the early — more than a month — arrival of locusts. As India falls in the path of these migrating locusts they come regularly along with monsoon winds and go back as the monsoon retreats. However, since they arrived after the rabi harvest, the destruction of crops has been minimal so far, barring some summer crops in Rajasthan and M.P.
Farmers also said this was the worst locust attack in two decades or more. According to some experts, the locusts arrived early because of poor control of spring breeding of locusts in the border areas of Pakistan owing mainly to the Covid-related lockdown.
“As the current swarms contain mainly pink locusts (hyperactive juvenile locusts) controlling them using conventional chemical spraying is difficult. This is because unlike mature locusts, which rest on the ground at night, these juveniles settle on tall trees,” said a locust control officer posted in the border areas in Rajasthan.
The officer, who didn’t want to reveal his name, said the swarms of locusts have crossed the Thar desert through three different routes and moved through northern, southern and central parts of the State. According to the official, some swarms were 7-8 km long and 3-4 km wide. It is estimated that a sq km-sized swarm can contain 40-80 million locusts, which can eat up foodgrains that can feed 35,000 people a day.
According to a senior official at the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage at Faridabad, while local locust control operations using chemical spraying are already happening where swarms are sighted, the massive control action will have to wait till mid-June when India gets additional sprayers from a UK-based firm. According to the official, the government plans to engage drones to carry out such spraying operations.
According to Cressman, India can expect several successive waves of invasions until July in Rajasthan with eastward surges across northern India as far as Bihar and Orissa followed by westward movements and a return to Rajasthan on the changing winds associated with the monsoon. These movements will cease as the swarms begin to breed and become less mobile. The swarms are less likely to reach South India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, the FAO expert said.
Last year too, there was a massive locust attack and control operations initiated by authorities covered more than 4 lakh hectares, mainly in Rajasthan.
This year, Central and State government officials are undertaking locust control operations over a much larger area. According to an official release on Wednesday, operations are on in 21 Rajasthan districts, 18 Madhya Pradesh districts, two in Gujarat and one in Punjab.
Indian researchers are working on cells that can store more energy, last longer
To fix a broken bone, doctors often harvest another bone from the patient’s body or from someone else. It ...
Superconductors from IIScScientists at IISc Bangalore have invented a device with a nanocrystal structure ...
Engineering and construction giant L&T has won a licence from the Council of Scientific & Industrial ...
Option price falls more than it rises for the same change in underlying
A long-term vacation here is worth a check-in
The fund delivered a return of 31.5% in 2020 compared with the category’s 15.5%
Care Health Insurance’s new rider offers no great benefit. We review its pros and cons
In these isolated times when people yearn for a slice of the familiar, amateur and professional chefs are ...
Given the events in Washington DC on January 6, this week’s quiz is all about buildings that house or housed ...
While good writing wars against the cliché, television gives it a natural home
India is ready with two vaccines to beat the deadliest virus of recent times. The immunisation drive, however, ...
Digital is becoming dominant media, but are companies and their ad agencies transforming fast enough to make a ...
Slow Network, promoted by journalist-lyricist Neelesh Misra, pushes rural products and experiences
How marketers can use the traditional exchange of festive wishes meaningfully
For Fortune, a brand celebrating its 20th anniversary, it was a rude shock to become the butt of social media ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor