May 28, 2020

Anna Murray 

India is now facing the most severe desert locust swarm problem in nearly 30 years. The Indian authorities are sending out the drone to spray the insecticides to destroy the huge swarm of locust. 

The swarm of desert locust is now heading to Delhi, the capital of India, after destroying the crops in western Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. According to the head of the regional forecasting center of the India Meteorological Department, Kuldeep Srivastava, the wind speed will make the swarm of desert locust head towards Delhi, and hopefully the wind direction will allow the desert locust swarms to fly into the non-urban area to decrease the loss of crops. 

On the social media, many Indians have shared their videos or photos to record the swarm of locusts covering the streets after the India government is going to ease the COVID-19 lockdown. India is not only confronting the issue of desert locust. Besides, the sudden national lockdown caused thousands of migrant workers to die from the starvation.  

The major issue of locust swarm is to cause the food crisis. Then, the problem of famine and starvation occurs. Based on the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a swarm of 40 million locust can eat as much food as up to 35,000 humans. This will cause the shortage of the food and raise the price of groceries.

The swarm of locust happened in many countries. Pakistan, countries in East Africa, and Yemen have confronted the attack of desert locust in this year.