Jaipur: Floodwaters that inundated Sindh province in Pakistan after devastating the northwestern provinces could become an ideal breeding ground for locusts. The locusts are likely to cross over to the western Rajasthan endangering the crops.
Moist conditions in both India and in the Thar desert because of heavy rains would breed the insects and officials of both India and Pakistan are meeting Wednesday at Munabao on the Indian side to discuss the issue. Munabao is the last Indian railway station from where the weekly train to Khokhrapar in Pakistan operates.
Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acridities.
These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory. They form bands as nymphs and swarms as adults — both of which can travel great distances, rapidly stripping fields and greatly damaging crops.
Spotted
According to deputy director of locust control in Jodhpur KP Singh, he has been informed by the Pakistan government officials that locusts in large number are have been spotted in Balochistan and they may move towards the Sindh province and from there cross over to India.
