Locust
Attack :A Threat To Our Stomach Feeder
Hello, friends!
Corona virus, economic
recession, cyclone and now... a locust attack.
One problem doesn't get
over and yet another one crops up.
So, what are locusts?
Why are they attacking
us? What are the reasons behind this?
Some people in our
country believe that Pakistan is responsible for this.
Pakistan has sent these
terrorist locusts to India.
And these locusts are
basically a conspiracy of Pakistan. India asks the weak and cowardly Pakistan.
Has Pakistan been
resorting to the locust conspiracy after the terrorist conspiracy?
So Pakistan is now
turning locusts into terrorists and sending them to India. Has Pakistan been
relying on locusts now instead of the army in order to attack India? Not only
me, the whole India raises this question. Somebody please ask Arnab Goswami how
this conspiracy works?
Is there a nano GPS chip
fixed onto these locusts with which Imran Khan is controlling them through a
remote?
How does that work?
It makes me laugh to
think that people like Arnab Goswami consider their audience to be utter fools.
That no matter what
rubbish they utter, the viewers will take that to be true.
That's just too much!
Reverting to the topic,
we will find out the actual reasons behind the locust attacks in today's blog.
And what innovative
solutions are being used worldwide to counter it.
From which we can learn
something.
First, let us learn something about locusts:
Locust is an insect which is quite similar to
grasshopper and cricket.
In fact, all these three
insects belong to the same family. Locusts are generally found in desert
regions.And the unique thing about this is that as compared to grasshoppers and
crickets. It exists in two phases- It has two forms, which is not seen in
grasshoppers and crickets normally. These forms are- When it is present alone,
then it looks somewhat like this
This is called the
solitary phase.
But when it is present
in crowds, and the environmental conditions are congenial.
For example, wet soil
after recent rains with trees and plants in full bloom. Then they transform
their forms completely.
They look somewhat like
this :-
This is called the
gregarious phase.
This metamorphosis of
form, changes everything about them- their behavior , habits, appearance.
Everything is different
in the solitary phase and the gregarious phase.
So, this is something
like the evolution of Pokemon.
In a similar manner, it
evolves into another phase if environmental conditions are congenial. So, we do
not have a problem with the ones in their solitary phase. A problem arises when
they exist in crowds and are in their gregarious phase.
They are yellow and
black in color. Their eating habits change in the gregarious phase.
The changes are like
this:-
i)
They can eat more food
and more varieties of food.
ii)
Their endurance
increases and their movements become more rapid.
iii)
Even their brain size
becomes larger.
What's interesting is
that they can transform into the gregarious phase from the solitary phase
anytime.
At any point of time, in
their lives as long as environmental conditions for it are congenial.
The apt environmental
conditions are- recent rains, moist soil and lush vegetation around.
The swarms of these
locusts are created in their gregarious phase.
And these swarms destroy
everything in their way.
Because, their eating
habits change so much that they can eat almost everything.
Leaves, shoots, flowers,
fruits, seeds, stems, barks- they can eat it all.
They can eat almost all
types of crops or non crops- be it wheat, grass, fruit trees or date palms. This
is why complete destruction follows wherever they go.
HOW
BAD ARE LOCUST ATTACK:
How large can one locust
swarm be?
The swarm found in Kenya
in 2020 was 40 km by 60 km in dimension. The
swarm can be as large as a rectangle of 40 km’s by 60 km’s. And in a swarm, there can be more than 150 million locusts
within one square kilometer. A swarm can eat as much as 2,500 people in one day.
So you can imagine the extent of its scale and how much destruction it can
cause.
And this is why it is
said that the locusts are a kind of species that have the most economic impact
on the entire planet as
compared to any other animal species.
You can see the regions
in which this happens-
Africa, Middleeast,
Pakistan and the western part of India. They are found in larger numbers here
because of the large extent of the desert areas in this region.And these are
the areas in which they cause the most destruction.
HISTORY OF LOCUST
ATTACK
The locust attack in
India today is the worst in the past 27 years in India.1993 was the last time
conditions were so bad. But this is not a recent phenomena. These locust
attacks have been happening for thousands of years throughout the human history.
Even ancient Egyptians had drawn locusts on their tombs.
Which tells us that,
there had been locusts attack even in that age. These tombs are dated around
2400 BC. This is the reason why they are mentioned in a lot of religious texts-
for example, Bible and Quran mention locust plagues.
It is believed that the
locust plague mentioned in Bible happened in reality in Egypt in around 1400 BC.
So, this is a problem that has been festering for ages. But climate change is
indirectly held responsible for the locust’s attacks happening today.
CAUSES
OF RECENT ATTACKS
The sequence of events
of how it actually happened is very interesting.
The Indian ocean is
warming up more than usual due to the climate change. The rains become more
extreme due to the enhanced heating of the ocean.
Torrential rains hit
East Africa around the time of December 2019.In fact, there were floods as well
East Africa includes-
Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia
These countries were
badly flooded during December 2019.You can see how many people were affected due
to these floods:-
Due to floods and
torrential rains, congenial environmental conditions are created for the
locusts.
The soil becomes moist
and there is abundant vegetation around due to rains.
So this becomes a great
opportunity for the locusts to breed and change into the gregarious phase.
So the locusts began to
breed in huge numbers there and a plague hit East Africa.
So Around February 2020,
there was a huge locust plague in Africa.
After which, these
swarms of locusts began to travel east.It travelled to Iran, then Pakistan and
now by the time of May, this plague has begun its move towards India.
The winds of the cyclone
that had hit Bengal moved in such a direction and in such a way that, they were
further pushing the swarm of the locusts towards India.
They wouldn't have
normally travelled this way but they further moved in this direction because of
the cyclone winds.
And this is exerting a
very negative influence on Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and
Haryana.
SOLUTIONS
So the question is what
are the solutions to fight this locust plague?
1st
solution:
The first and the most
common solution adopted by most of the countries most frequently
Is, simply spraying them
with pesticides and insecticides. Either on the ground or in the air with the
help of a helicopter and then they would die.
The problem with this
solution is that this has a lot of negative impacts. Spraying pesticides has a
negative impact in general on the environment, the people and their food. It
exerts a negative impact on other things as well.And pesticides need to be
sprayed in huge quantities in order for it to show effect.
2nd
solution:
Another solution could
be the use of eco friendly pesticides. But experts have observed that the eco
friendly pesticides- the ones that do not harm the environment-do not kill them
as effectively.
They take some time to
show effect.
Hence they are not as
effective
3rd
solution:
The third is the use of
loud noises. The locusts flee from any kind of noise. Djs, music on a
loudspeaker or any kind of loud noise- make them scarper.
This is a solution that
our farmers have implemented. But the problem with this solution is obvious- It
can be implemented on a very short scale. And if your drive away the locusts from
one place then they are going to attack another.
4th
solution :
But there's another
unique and interesting solution which was tested out in Pakistan.
This solution was tested
out in a small scale in Pakistan's Okara district. Basically, the farmers were
asked to trap these locusts and collect them and submit them in bags. They
would be paid in return for this. And then these locusts would be milled and
used as chicken feed. That is, they would basically become food for chicken and
help in feeding them.
Because ,locusts are an
extremely great source of protein.
Now, this solution is
extremely innovative
Think about it- The
farmers are also making profit in the form of money given to collect them. And
it is also generating profit when it is being used as a chicken feed. The
credit of implementing this solution goes to Muhammad Khurshid. He is a civil
servant in the Ministry of national food security and research in Pakistan. And
Johar Ali- a bio-technologist of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council.
It was his idea. And he
says that when he first broke this idea to the people, then everyone laughed.
Nobody thought that this
idea could seriously be implemented in real.
So what is the math
behind this idea?
The math is that he
believes that first of all, the farmers can trap them easily with. And these
locusts do not fly in the air at night time. So they can be trapped very easily
at night. They say that when the farmers collect these locusts and deliver them
in bags, then they are paid 20 Pakistani rupees per kg
In India, this would
amount to be around Rs 9 per kilo. The farmers are being this amount when they
collect them in bags and submit them .And he also believes that the number of
locusts a farmer can trap overnight, He can earn 20,000 Pakistani rupees, (that
is, around 9,000 Indian rupees) in exchange for that, He also claimed that
these locusts are a source of profit for the animal feeding industry as well
Because, when these
locusts would be used as chicken feed, they have 70% proteins.
As compared to soybeans,
which are presently used
in chicken feed and have only 50% protein content.
Such a high level of
protein ,(becomes available) when Pakistan imports soybean from the other
countries. So this is profitable for even Pakistan as a country. Since, it
would not import then it could save up on its foreign exchange. Animal feeding
industry can also save up as well by using locusts.
So this idea was tested
out in a small village of a district and it was extremely successful.
Now talks are in
progress for its implementation on a large scale. And I believe that the Indian
farmers can learn a lot from this too. And please do not brand me an anti
national for bringing forth Pakistan's idea.
I'd like to point out
even the RSS members are exhorting to take inspiration from this idea if its
successful.
So this is not a matter
of being anti national.
They say that a
successful idea should be taken inspiration from, no matter which country it
comes from.
I adhere to the same
belief.
That if an idea is so
great, interesting, innovative and is successful, then we must try it out as
well.
5th
solution :
I'd like to discuss one
last solution (the fifth one) because this is very interesting too.
The fifth solution
entails the humans themselves eating the locusts as a protein source. This is a
solution which is already being practiced in a lot of areas historically. When
the locust plagues struck in the early ages, then the people in Africa and
Middle East ate them. Because since the locusts destroyed all the crops, the
people had nothing left to eat.
Coincidentally, it
turned out to be a good protein source and a lot of people used it as a food
option.
Even today, locusts are
an extremely popular dish in Israel.
They are served in
several restaurants there and the people like to eat them. And since the people
have been eating it historically, this the perhaps the reason why, the locusts
are considered halal in Muslim culture and are considered kosher in Jewish
culture. Kosher is an eating ritual of Jews just like halal is an eating ritual
of Muslims.
So it is very
interesting to see how the people have been eating them. But unfortunately,
that is not possible in
today's times because they are sprayed with so many pesticides, that consuming
them might be harmful for your health. And this is not a huge, long term
solution anyway because even if you do eat them, how many would you have to eat
to actually reduce their population.
Their swarms are too
large to be eaten completely.
So it is better to focus
on the rest of the solutions
We will meet again in
the next blog
Thank You
FROM VERRYONEL Team
By Deadman
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