An invasion by swarms of desert locusts has devastated crops in India's heartland, threatening an already vulnerable region that is struggling with the economic cost of coronavirus lockdown.
The situation has been particularly grim in central India's Rajasthan, where millions of locusts have been attacking crops since April. The insects are now appearing in locations where they had not been previously sighted, nibbling their way across large swathes of farmlands in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states, too.
"It is an alarming situation," said KL Gurjar, a top official of India's Locust Warning Organization. "But we are more worried of their breeding. If that happens, it could be devastating for our farmlands." Exasperated farmers have been banging plates, whistling or throwing stones to try to drive the locusts away, and sometimes even lighting fires to smoke them out."These insects are giving us sleepless nights. We are more worried about them than the virus," said Mandeep Singh, who spent hours Tuesday trying to chase away the locusts from his cotton farm in Punjab.
Experts warn that authorities will have to stop locusts from breeding before the monsoon season starts to ensure that they do not end up devouring summer crops and aggravate an already burgeoning agrarian crisis that hit India after a countrywide lockdown that started in late March.
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