Unlike this year, India and Pakistan last year jointly fought the Grass Hopper's army

LAST YEAR INDIA AND PAKISTAN FOUGHT LOCUST TERROR ATTACK JOINTLY DESPITE TENSION BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES.

Vijay Thakur, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

Notwithstanding the fact that India and Pakistan are fighting over Kashmir, they are fighting jointly in districts along Indo-Pak Border touching Rajashtan and Sindh to get rid of ‘Tiddi (Locust)-terror’—worst in the past 26 years.

Tiddis, who have entered into Pakistan in March-April from Iran and Soudi Arabia have attacked Balochistan, Sindh and parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. While Indian Army based in Pokhran has also come in the support of Locust Warning Organisation (LWO-India), which comes under Directorate of Plant Protection and Quarantine and storage (DPP) in Agriculture Ministry, Pakistan Army helping LWO-Pakistan to quarantine areas of Sindh and Balochistan .

Both LWO-India and LWO-Pakistan officials have met in June and July to discuss a combined strategy to quarantine Locusts that has spread in over 1.5 lakh hecrates of land in India and Pakistan—perhaps worst in the past 26 years.

Tiddis (Locust), a short-horn grasshopper, can travel long distances in large numbers and destroy the crop that comes in its way. They basically originates from Africa, enters Middle East mainly Iran and Saudi Arabia, and then finally Pakistan and India.

Tiddi-terror has been so vast and strong that it has plagues since pre-history and has was mentioned in the Bible and the Quran and ancient Egyptians carved them on their tombs. During the past two centuries, Tiddi-terror devastated crops and was a contributory cause of famines and human migrations, said K L Gurjar, the Deputy Director, DPP in the Agriculture Ministry, .

“Terror-attack of this magnitude was last seen 26 years ago 1992-93. Though they have been entering India through Pakistan almost every year but the numbers were very insignificant and were controlled in Jaisalmer region only,” he said.

Only second generation swarms enter India, and Pokhran firing range is their favourite breeding ground. They lay eggs near Khetolai village in Pokhran, near the Pokhran-II nuclear blast site. But they are not harmful as they have lived their age and do not eat much, the problem starts with the newly fertilized Tiddis, they eat a lot and are larger in number and destroy whatever comes in their way, Gurjar said.

In Pokhran firing range, army has stopped firing practice and are helping LWO-India to destroy the second generation Tiddis from spreading, he said. More than 42 vehicle mounted sprayers are being used in Jaislarmer, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, and Bikanere to quarantine Locusts in Rajasthan, he said. A few more are operational in Gujarat Border as well, he added.

So far India has controlled and quarantined 52,571 hectares of land in Rajasthan. Every day one Mounted vehicle is quarantining 125 to 150 hecrates of land, which means LWO has capacity to clear more than 5000 hecrates of land on a daily basis, he said.

On Pakistan side, though Locust attack is more spread and intense, it has reportedly controlled only 39,000 hecrates till our last Indo-Pak LWO meeing in July at Khokrapar in Pakistan, he said. We would come to know of their latest controlled area on August 21—when Indo-Pak LWO would meet at Mumabao in India.

Tiddi-Terror in India and Pakistan is reportedly spread in over 1.5 lakh square kilometers---almost ten time the size of Kashmir valley, and can affect over 20 million farmers in Balochistan, Sindh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and part of Punjab. Yet this is just tip of the iceberg when we see its spread in Africa and Middle East countries—in Iran alone it has spread in seven lakh hecrates of land and 3.5 hectares of land in Saudi Arabia---details of Oman, Aman, Turkey is yet to be counted, he added.