Locusts had entered Rajasthan in April and have covered 50,000 hectares of land so far. Uttar Pradesh has also reported the attacks and there is an alert for Maharashtra as well as Delhi. The swarm, which has entered the country earlier than expected, is said to be the worst attack in 27 years.
According to reports, states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP have been battling the locust attack that reportedly emerged in East Africa.
On Monday, residents of Jaipur woke up to the scary sight of thousands of locusts resting on their terraces and posted the terrifying videos on Twitter.
The desert locust is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world and a single swarm covering one square kilometre can contain up to 80 million locusts.
A swarm of desert locusts can consume (or destroy) food that would suffice the hunger needs of 35,000 people, assuming that one person consumes around 2.3 kg of food every day.
Millions of locusts moving in swarms settled on large areas eating up crops causing untold destruction.
After destroying crops in Rajasthan, a large swarm of locusts has now reached Jhansi, a city in Uttar Pradesh. On Monday, several areas of the city were under locust attack.
Andra Vamsi, Jhansi District Magistrate told that the locusts mostly attack at the places which are near the river bed.
“Locust swarms have arrived in Jhansi from Rajasthan. It has been observed that their movement is more concentrated near the river bed, affecting vegetable and soya plantations,” he said.
The Locust Warning Organization (LWO) of the Union ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare has warned of another attack in May-June this year.
Notably, the first locust attack of this year was reported from Ganganagar, a district in north Rajasthan bordering Pakistan, on May 11.
