Locusts attack: Palghar collector warns farmers of locusts damaging crops, suggests spraying insecticides

Palghar district collector Kailash Shinde on Friday warned farmers in the region about locusts posing a threat to their crops and suggested various measures, including spraying pesticides in the farms, to prevent such damage.

"Locust infestation is found in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. The swarms of these insects fly at a speed of 12 to 16 km per hour. As these locusts fly far away, such locusts can pose a threat," Shinde said in a statement on Friday.

He said that the pest infests the green leaves, flowers, fruits, etc of the plant in its path, causing extensive damage to the crops.

Himachal Pradesh has already issued high alert in some districts of the state against probable locust attack. Haryana has also issued an alert.

"Farmers in Talasari, Jawahar, and Dahanu are closer to the Gujarat border are advised and alerted about the locust infestation. Precautionary measures should be taken before the outbreak to prevent damage from this pest," Shinde said.

"For this, technical information has been received from the Agricultural University. According to the information, various measures have been suggested by the Desert Locust Survey to prevent insects from entering their fields as a precautionary measure to create awareness among the farmers about locust control and to avoid financial loss due to insects," he added.

Shinde advised farmers to specially monitor and inspect the fields at night in groups and disrupt the locusts with loud sounds. He also said that spraying of insecticides should be done late at night or early in the morning if possible.

This comes as massive swarms of desert locust have been reported destroying crops in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.