The Desert Locust in Rajasthan and Gujarat – Diligent IAS 11/07/2019 – Posted in: Daily News – Tags:

THE DESERT LOCUST IN RAJASTHAN AND GUJARAT

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: About Desert Locust, Grasshopper, Locust Warning Organisation

 

News Flash

Agriculture Minister told Parliament that there has been an incursion of desert locusts in Rajasthan and Gujarat from areas bordering Pakistan.

  • Neither the desert locust control teams nor any state agriculture functionaries have reported any damage to the crops.
  • The last major outbreak of locusts took place in Rajasthan in 1993.
  • Desert locust belongs to the category of grasshoppers.

 

desert locust

Desert locust

 

Locust Warning Organisation

  • Locust Warning Organisation is headquartered in Jodhpur.
  • India has a Locust Control and Research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation.
  • It was established in 1939 and amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage of the Ministry of Agriculture.
  • The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas.
  • Mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.

 

Invading Locust

  • The tropical grasshoppers emerged in January this year from Sudan and Eritrea on Africa’s Red Sea Coast.
  • They traveled through Saudi Arabia and Iran to enter Pakistan, where they invaded the cotton-producing belt of Sindh.
  • The swarms of locusts are now entering the Thar desert, threatening the crops in western Rajasthan.

 

Locusts

  • Locusts are large herbivorous insects.
  • They can be serious pests of agriculture due to their ability to form dense and highly mobile swarms.
  • They are species of short-horned grasshoppers.
  • Locusts are not themselves a species.
  • Locusts are known to cover long distances in short time periods leaving behind a trail of damage.

 

Grasshoppers

  • Grasshoppers are ground-dwelling insects.
  • They go through a phase of incomplete metamorphosis before developing into the adult stage.
  • They have very powerful hind legs.
  • Grasshoppers can only fly for shorter distances.
  • Grasshoppers mostly exist within a solitary phase with little to no threat to crops.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

You can follow us on LinkedIn and for more updates related to UPSC IAS Preparation, Like our Facebook Page and subscribe our Diligent IAS Youtube Channel 

Also, Read Related Daily News