Farmland in UP under Locusts attack
Lucknow: A large swarm of locusts has now reached Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district after destroying crops in Rajasthan.
On Monday, several areas in the district were under the locust attack, which continued on Tuesday too.
Andra Vamsi, Jhansi District Magistrate said, “Locust swarms have arrived in Jhansi from Rajasthan. It has been observed that their movement is more concentrated near the river bed, affecting vegetable and soya plantations.”
The district administration had started spraying pesticides in fields from Sunday night and farmers started beating drums and clanging plates to make a noise since locusts are said to be afraid of noise.
The state government had already started an awareness campaign against possible locust attacks from May 15 in which pamphlets and hand bills were distributed to farmers on this issue.
The Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) of the Union ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare has warned of another attack in May-June. Notably, the first locust attack of this year was reported from Ganganagar, a district in north Rajasthan bordering Pakistan, on May 11.