Recently a broad area has been badly affected by the swarm of locusts in India and Pakistan. Locusts attack has brought huge agricultural damage that can seriously jeopardize the local food supply and cause famine. A small swarm of about 40 million can destroy the supply that can feed 35000 human beings. Currently, more than 23 countries are being affected by the infestation.
India has suffered from a lot of locust attacks in the past as well. Reportedly there were a total of 25 outbreaks between 1964 and 1997. Apart from the ineffective preventive measures, the COVID-19 pandemic had altogether halted the controlling efforts due to restrictions in transportation.
How Dangerous Is Locusts Attack And Why It Is Important To Take It Seriously
Locusts are migratory insects that love socializing with each other. They may look like grasshoppers but grasshoppers are not as social as locusts. They gather up and talk to each other and then burst out in swarms to search for food. Locusts attack can devour everything humans consider food but it cannot hurt them and animals. It still does not give any reason to take this issue anymore lightly than the pandemic. Humans celebrate world food day to be thankful for this blessing, so they must try to protect crops from these insects.
If it is not controlled then it would affect around 45 million square kilometers of agricultural land in over 90 countries, as estimated by the Food And Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. According to the UN, the current outbreak of 2019-2020 began in 2018 in Arabian desert from where it migrated to East Africa, India, Pakistan, and Iran.
India Is Badly Struck By A Massive Swarm
India is facing the biggest locusts attack in nearly three decades. Rajasthan, Gujrat, and Madhya Pradesh are among the worst affected states and other states including Punjab have been put on high alert. The swarms migrated to India after breeding in Pakistani grounds which raises arguments of some political controversy that wastes further time. However, some images and videos shared on social media show how serious is the issue.
A Blame Game to Implicate Pakistan
It is hilarious to think that Pakistan has enough budget to fund an army of insects to take out enemy soldiers. What about all those weapons that are purchased from the country’s GDP? Most probably Pakistan will use them whenever required instead of wasting further money on more weapons.
This is the kind of media that is promoted in India to spread hatred and misinformation among the people. In order to distract people from the main issue, Indian channels connect every issue with a political controversy with Pakistan and it sells like hot cakes. They are blaming Pakistan for launching battle trained locusts to spread terrorism in India.
Failed Prevention Efforts In Pakistan
Pakistan is itself suffering from the recurring locust attacks since 2019. The Agriculture Department of Pakistan and farmers have adopted several measures to eliminate the threat. Farmers strike steel and set fires in an attempt to ward off the swarms with the help of smoke. However all these measures are deemed ineffective because the swarm would return anyway. Even the spraying operation is not working anymore as explained in the below video. It shows how crops are affected by the insect at Jhang District in Punjab, Pakistan.
