Another looming threat

Govt should prepare to protect farms from locust invasion

Even as the government strives to shield the agriculture sector from the adverse fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak, another calamity of pandemic dimensions is threatening to attack India’s farmlands in the form of locust invasion. The problem is serious, as these gregarious grasshopper-like insects are the most destructive of all the pests of plants and can cause up to 100 per cent crop loss. Moreover, these are expert fliers and can cover 150-200 km in a day, if aided by winds. The menace has persisted in the Horn of Africa, the epicentre of the current locust problem, since 2018 and