No threat to urban areas from locusts: UN body

Representative photo
NEW DELHI: Extent of locust invasion in India may spread further and swarms may reach as far as Bihar and Odisha in June-July before they eventually return to Rajasthan with the progress of monsoon, a UN body has warned.

However, its impact in cities, including Delhi, will not be felt as locusts overfly urban areas without troubling humans.

India was informed by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) this week that “several successive waves of invasions can be expected until July in Rajasthan with eastward surges across northern India and reaching as far as Bihar and Odisha eventually returning to Rajasthan with the progress of monsoon.”

Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the FAO said that there is no need to panic as the infestation has not yet reached the stage of ‘plague’ (considered devastating for standing crops and vegetation).