KATHMANDU, JULY 14

The locusts that recently entered the country via Dang have divided into smaller groups and travelled to other districts.

As per Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre (PQPMC), the locusts that entered via Dang on Sunday flew towards Pyuthan district on Monday. However, due to the obstacles created by the farmers, the locusts could not stay there long and again flew away towards Rolpa district after splitting into smaller groups. Thus, the centre has estimated the impact of locusts to be minimal.

Meanwhile, another group of locusts entered via Nawalparasi on Monday night and stayed in the jungle area and have not affected the paddy fields yet. “Due to the continuous rainfall, locusts are not finding a place to stay for a long time and if they are not able to stay in one place for a long time they cannot have a significant impact on crops.

So these smaller groups will have less impact.”

Moreover, the groups of locusts that had entered the country earlier are travelling in smaller groups in Baglung, Myagdi, Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Dolpa and Jumla, among other places. As per the centre, those groups are also smaller and less harmful.

However, there is still a risk of large swarms of locusts entering the country as the wind is blowing from the south towards the east. As a result of the wind direction, large swarms travelling in the border areas of India are likely to enter the country in the next few days. A large swarm of locusts has currently been spotted in Lucknow, which could enter the country via Parsa, Dhanusa, Mahottari and Sarlahi districts. Thus, all the concerned authorities have been directed to remain alert and read the locust alert notice issued by the centre.

Earlier, the centre had stated that five huge swarms of locusts were spaced out over 400 hectares around Sikar of Rajasthan in India and were travelling towards Nepal.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 15, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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