PAU confirms locusts' presence, but says nothing to worry

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 25

Scientists from PAU Regional Research Station at Abohar and officials of the Agriculture Department have revealed the presence of locust hoppers in small numbers or groups (5 to 20 hoppers) in Fazilka, Muktsar and Bathinda districts.

Locusts are the short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory habit, marked polymorphism and voracious feeding behaviour. India has not witnessed any full-blown locust cycle after 1962. However, during 1978 and 1993, a large-scale upsurge was observed.

Localised locust breeding has also been reported and controlled during the period 1998, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2010. Since 2010, no swarm formation has been reported.

However, presence of desert locusts has been reported from time to time at some locations in the Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) regularly surveys the scheduled desert area of Rajasthan and Gujarat to monitor the presence of desert locust and ecological conditions.

Swarms of desert locust have been observed in some districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat since last month.

Recent surveys have confirmed the presence of locust hoppers in small numbers in Gumjal, Dangarkhera, Punjava, Panniwala Mahala, Arachiki, Bhangarkhera, Roopnagar, Bareka, Bakainwala, Haripura, Khuian Sarvar village of Fazilka, and in Raniwala, Midda, Aspal, Virk Khera, Bhagsar and some other villages of Muktsar.

According to Dr PK Chhuneja, head, Department of Entomology, PAU, the current spotting/detection of locust hoppers in small numbers/groups in Punjab did not pose threat but there was a need to guard against fresh incursions from across the border.

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Climate change

Appearance of locusts in winter months is a new phenomenon and may be linked to climate change events. These hoppers in small number or groups do not cause any economic damage to agricultural and horticultural crops unless they appear in swarms that comprise hundreds or thousands of the insects.