India to get 15 sprayers from Britain to control locust attack
May 28, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 28 : In a bid to control the locust attack in the country, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday said that 15 sprayers will arrive from Britain in the next 15 days.
Tomar today held a high-level meeting to review locust control operations in the country. The Centre is in close touch with affected States and an advisory has been issued.
"45 more sprayers will be procured in a month or one-and-a-half months. Drones will be used to spray pesticides on tall trees and inaccessible places for effective control of locusts, while plans are afoot to deploy helicopters for aerial spray," the ministry said.
Locust swarms from Pakistan have entered Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh threatening major damage to standing cotton crops and vegetables, said a spokesperson of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Rajasthan is the most affected state, the spokesperson informed.
The desert locust is a species of locust, a swarming short-horned grasshopper. They are known to devour everything in their path, posing an unprecedented threat to food supply and livelihoods of millions of people.
