United Nations warns, locust party may attack again in July

India may have to face the locust attack once again in July. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned of this. The central government has asked 16 states to be vigilant in view of locust attack, including the worst affected states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The FAO said on Thursday that a locust contingent arrived in Rajasthan from southwest Pakistan in May before the monsoon and for the first time since 1962 the locust contingent reached the northern states.

According to the FAO, locusts would move east and west before returning to the desert of Rajasthan to lay eggs at the beginning of the monsoon. At the same time, a group of locusts will come to India from South Iran in June. After this, a large group of locusts will reach India in July on behalf of 'Horn of Africa'.

According to experts, a locust team entered India from Pakistan and it snapped crops in states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Presently the locust team came to India via the 'Horn of Africa'.

FAO stated that in East Africa, locusts in northwestern Kenya have started laying eggs and many locust crews are gathering. All these teams will move to India from the second week of June to mid-July with immature locusts.

The organization said a similar situation is arising in Somalia and Ethiopia. Most of the new locusts will move from Kenya to Ethiopia and north Sudan to South Sudan after mid-June, while other locusts will migrate to northern Ethiopia. He said that locusts reaching northeast Somalia are likely to move towards the Indo-Pakistan border area in the northern Indian Ocean.

Let us tell you, locusts can fly up to 150 km in a day and a square-kilometer swarm can eat as much as 35,000 people.