While the nation still pedals through uncertainty on fighting the Coronavirus pandemic, most of the north Indian states have been burdened to tackle the invasion of another dangerous menace amid suffering the rampant spread of the pandemic. The invasion of Desert locusts had escalated the risk for the country and threatened the livelihoods of farmers as they have been getting victimized in the wake of the back to back invasions. 

The much early invasion of the migratory pests has been devastating the plantation and standing crops in most of the states and these dangerous pests are leaving the field after ensuring that it has destroyed the lives of corps and the lives of farmers. These swarms are traveling to more states in search of food and the movement towards the downwind direction has caused major fear on whether the locusts would invade Tamil Nadu.

Responding to the developments, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural department has asserted that the state wouldn't face any threat from the locusts. According to the reports, the state government has sought advice from the Indian government and experts and based on their assurance that the locust swarms wouldn't cross the Deccan Plateau, the state has come to the conclusion that the possibilities on the invasion are much less and remote.

However, the state government has issued the advisory to farmers on curbing the threat. The government has formulated strategies to control the swarms which include spraying of neem-based pesticides on the crops, the mass ground spray of malathion pesticides using fire engines and the usage of the poultry birds which can eat locusts would also help in countering the locust swarms as the invasion has let most of the Indian states to stay under alert. 

Rajasthan is the most affected Indian state due to the migratory pests and the state is ought to incur a huge loss. The Rajasthan state government has estimated that 6.70 lakh hectares of crops worth Rs 1,000 crore have been devasted by locusts and the swarms have invaded 33 districts of the state amid the Coronavirus pandemic. 

The desert locust has been considered as the most dangerous and destructive migratory pest in the world and a swarm that stretches for one square kilometer can have 80 million locusts, which is really huge and threatening numbers. Last Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has stated that India and Pakistan would see more risks due to the insects and impact of this year could be more devastating than the last year.

Must read: From COVID-19 to Locusts - How India suffers from the invasion of menaces?