Locust alert in all 24 Jharkhand districts, farmers warned of attack

Ranchi/Garhwa: The state agriculture department has issued an advisory to all the districts, asking them to be vigilant in view of the locust attacks. Palamu, Garhwa, Latehar and other adjoining districts which share borders with Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh could be vulnerable as reports suggest that locusts have attacked parts of Rajasthan, MP and UP. Sources in the agriculture department said that an alert has been issued to all the districts on Saturday, asking them to make the farmers and other stakeholders aware of the dos and don’ts to curb the impending threat. On Sunday, Deoghar district administration came up with a detailed advisory for all the stakeholders and issued helpline numbers for those seeking further guidance regarding the safety measures. Deoghar’s district agriculture officer Rama Shankar Prasad said, “On Saturday, the government asked us to prepare a plan to deal with the locust attack and on Sunday, we issued detailed guidelines for the farmers.”Prasad added that they are preparing an estimate for making mitigation plans for 10,000 hectare crop area. “With help from the block and village-level agricultural officials and volunteers, we are reaching out to the farmers with on dos and don’ts to tackle the threat. They can also call our helpline number (18001801551) to seek further guidance,” he said. A senior scientist, identified as P K Sannigrahi, who works at the Deoghar Kirshi Vigyan Kendra, said that Jharkhand will be in danger if the swarm of locusts reaches Bihar or in those areas of UP and MP which are close to the state. “It hasn’t reached Bihar yet or in those areas of UP and MP which share their borders with Jharkhand. Everything will depend on the wind speed and the weather conditions but since the government has issued an alert, it’s always good to be prepared in advance.We are helping out farmers with the technical know-how. The locusts have a tendency of moving in large groups, at a speed of 150-200km, and they can eat crops equal to the food of 35,000 people at one go.”In Garhwa, the district administration has directed its farmers to take be prepared to face the likely attack from the swarm of locusts. The district agriculture officer, Laxman Oraon, said, “We have instructed all dealers of fertilizers and seeds to keep a stock of pesticides ready in case there is a locust attack. The BDOs have been asked to take precautionary measure to save the crops.”Kamlesh Narayan, the sub divisional officer at Banshidhar Nagar, said, “Alerts have been issued to all block development officers, farmers, seed and fertiliser stockists.” The Union Agriculture Ministry’s Locust Warning Organisation, headquartered in Jodhpur, said that the threat of locusts this year is expected to be bigger in comparison to the crop damages it caused last year. The swarm of locusts this time has originated from Pakistan and crossed over to India in April. Till now, Dausa in Rajasthan, Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh are the three major regions where the locusts have predominantly attacked.