Locust or the crop-eating species have now begun entering India in numbers highest in the last three decades. If you see the chilling videos of locust attack from UP, Punjab, Haryana and more, you will understand how dangerous locust can be for India’s food security and farmers’ livelihood.
Howevere, we Indians are famous for not giving up without a fight. So taking on the challenge, farmers have come out with modern solutions to keep locust away. And one among them is disturbing them with sound.
More recently, UP police officer Rahul Shrivastava, posted in Jhansi, shared a video that shows a vehicle fitted with loudspeakers–locally known as a ‘DJ vehicle’ used for playing music during wedding processions–attempting to scare away locusts.
Actually, making sound to scare the locust away is a technique advised by the government in its advisory on how to keep locust at bay. And the idea is being used to scare them away.
“Locusts can be scared away by producing noise by beating of drums and utensils. Chemicals, especially Chlorpyriphos 20 EC diluted in water, can be sprinkled on crops. There is a possibility of great damage to the crops due to locusts. The Agriculture Department and administration is keeping an eye on the issue,” agriculture scientist Jainendra Kanaujia was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Locusts belong to the family of grasshopper and are excessive feeders. They can eat anything that’s green. They mostly enter the Indian subcontinent in the month of June and July.
These locusts have come from Pakistan and Iran. they can fly around 150km in a day and each of them can eat two grains.
Feature image credits – Reuters
