Reason Behind Locust Attack

Do you know the reason for the Locust attack?

Why do locusts suddenly attack? Will they destroy our Planet? Or will these attacks stop?

Locust means Tiddiyan. Desert locusts have always been a threat to agriculture in areas spanning Africa to South Asia. In certain climatic conditions – heavy rain followed by high temperatures – the locusts switch from “a solitary phase with low population densities during recessions (periods of calm), to a gregarious phase with high population densities during invasions, then hopper bands and swarms can devastate agriculture”. With climate change, these situations are likely to expand the range of the locusts. It belongs to the grasshopper’s family which is a desert creature. But unlike grasshoppers, locusts exist in two phases. One is a solitary phase where locusts stay mostly alone, eat leaves, in short, behave like grasshoppers. But when they come in the gregarious phase, then they make a big problem. In this phase, locusts come together in a huge number and they transform everything, habits, behavior, and even appearance. They change their color from green to yellow and black.  In the gregarious phase, they become aggressive and attack in this phase. Their diet increases so much that they can eat anything from leaves to flowers to stems and even hard things like tree bark. That is why they destroy everything from where they pass. It has been said that a locust swarm can eat the diet of 35000 people. That’s huge. Isn’t it?

That is why it is a big problem for the farmers. According to the reports, a locust swarm can travel around 150 kms in a day with a speed of 16 to 19 km/h. This was not the first attack. People have faced focused attacks in the past too. But the attack in Maharashtra in 1993 in India and in 2019 in many areas of Pakistan, was the worst attack. “On 25th May, locusts were spotted for the first time when they were about 18 km away from irrigated land in Sindh,”

But within days, owing to favorable weather conditions for breeding and hatching, there was a huge growth in their numbers. Desert locusts, swarming short-horned grasshoppers, have been destroying crops in Africa and Asia for centuries. Their ability to move in huge swarms with great speed has earned them notoriety as one of the most devastating agricultural plagues in the world.

From the Red Sea coast of Sudan and Eritrea, the locusts first emerged in January 2019. By February, they had hit Saudi Arabia and Iran before entering Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province in March.

 It expanded the whole area and there was nothing left. But researchers said that the main reason for that attack was climate change. Strange? Let me explain how!

We all know that our planet is going through global warming, and the Indian Ocean was affected the most because of global warming which caused frequent unseasonal rains and cyclones. In December 2019, Africa faced a lot of floods, and these floods turned the environmental conditions in favor of the gregarious phase of locust. How? Actually, there is a structure of locust to enter into the Gregorian phase. They enter this phase only when the environmental condition is in their favor like when there is heavy rainfall, the soil is moist, and there is a lot of vegetation around. Due to heavy rain and floods in Africa, even in desert areas, the soil got moist and vegetation increased. And in February 2020, locust’s gregarious phase started. So, it all started in Africa and through Iran and Pakistan then expanded to India. Now till when it will stay and where will they go? It is very hard to predict. But the reason is very clear. Scientists believe that because of climate change, these attacks can be frequent. That’s why we might have to live with it. And do you know what the reason is? Nature made the natural defense for these scenarios, sparrow birds. But we don’t see these birds like we used to see them earlier. Scientists believe the reason for sparrows disappearing is our mobile radiation. And sparrows being not there, it has become difficult to stop the locust attack. But the good part is there is no such evidence yet that locusts have done any harm to humans. But they indirectly harm us. Because they destroy crops which directly impacts the economy. Locust attack is one of the many effects of global warming. And it is high time we accept that it is a real thing. And we should start working towards making our planets greener. Recycle, reuse and reduce. Let’s make these three R’s part of our lives and move towards sustainable living. So that we don’t have to face more such problems.