Crops worth millions of dollars destroyed by plague of locusts in northern India
- 4 years ago
Huge swathes of farmland and crops worth millions of dollars have been devastated in north India by a plague of locusts.
Footage from January 7 shows how millions of locusts were attacking the region around Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, affecting the residents of around 400 villages in that district.
Aid in the form of tractors and vehicles carrying tanks of pesticides can be seen arriving and dousing the fields to deter the locusts.
The escalating calamity started from May 2019, when the locusts began to swarm from over the neighbouring border with Pakistan.
Currently there are 20 teams working to deploy pesticides to contain the locusts, however this is felt to be too few to halt the crisis.
Reports claim that up to 125,000 hectares have been affected, and some estimates valuing the lost crops up to 1000 crore INR ($139,874,800 USD) from the ongoing locust crisis.
Officials have asked the local inhabitants to help them control the situation by informing them of the presence of locusts in their area, and using countermeasures where possible to prevent them from moving to another territory.
Footage from January 7 shows how millions of locusts were attacking the region around Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, affecting the residents of around 400 villages in that district.
Aid in the form of tractors and vehicles carrying tanks of pesticides can be seen arriving and dousing the fields to deter the locusts.
The escalating calamity started from May 2019, when the locusts began to swarm from over the neighbouring border with Pakistan.
Currently there are 20 teams working to deploy pesticides to contain the locusts, however this is felt to be too few to halt the crisis.
Reports claim that up to 125,000 hectares have been affected, and some estimates valuing the lost crops up to 1000 crore INR ($139,874,800 USD) from the ongoing locust crisis.
Officials have asked the local inhabitants to help them control the situation by informing them of the presence of locusts in their area, and using countermeasures where possible to prevent them from moving to another territory.