The main reason behind locust attack in India

What is the main reason? What happens suddenly when locust starts attacking in groups? Will they destroy our planet? Or this attack will come to an end? Let us throw some light on the topic.

Locust – It is a species of grasshopper and is a desert creature. But unlike grasshoppers, locust exists in two phases – solitary phase in which locust almost stay alone, eat leaves. In short, they behave just like the grasshoppers. But when they come to gregarious phase, they tend to create a big problem. In this phase locust come together in a huge number and form groups and they transform everything, habits, behavior and even appearance. They change their color from green to yellow and black. In this phase they become more aggressive and this is the phase when they attack. Their diet increases such as they can eat anything from leaves to seeds to flowers to stems everything, even tree barks. And that is when from wherever they pass they destruct everything. It is been said that a group of locusts can eat diet of 35000 people which is way huge. And that is why locust groups are a big problem for farmers.

According to report a group of locusts can travel 150 kms a day with a speed of 16-19 Kmph. This is not the first time such an attack has taken place. Earlier this kind of attack was quite common. But this time it’s way huge. Reports say that such big attacks happened in India after almost 27 years. Researchers believe that this time the main reason for the attack is nothing but climate change. Isn’t that strange? Let me brief on that.

We all know that the world is going through global warming and the affect of global warming is mostly seen in Indian Ocean which caused frequent unseasonable rains and cyclones. In December 2019, Africa faced a lot of floods. And these floods turned the environment in favor of locust’s gregarious phase. There is a structure through which Locust enters their gregarious phase. They enter this phase when the environment condition is in their favor. The favorable conditions like heavy rains, moist soil and plenty of vegetation all around. Because of heavy rains and floods in Africa, desert also encountered moist soil and a decent amount of vegetation increased there. In February 2020, the gregarious phase of Locusts started. The phase started in Africa and then from Iran to Pakistan to India, the group of Locusts started flying. Now the question is till when these locusts will stay in India and when will they go? It’s very hard to predict. Scientists believe that because of climate change these kinds of attacks are going to be common and we have to live with the scenario. To overcome this scenario, there was a natural treatment called sparrow. I hope you all remember 😊. But it’s hard to see them now a days like we used to see them earlier. Scientists believe that the main reason for sparrows getting vanished is the mobile radiations. And because of nonexistence of sparrows, it is more difficult to stop locust attacks. The good part is till now there is no evidence of Locusts attacking humans directly. Yes, indirectly they have harmed by destroying the crops which has a direct impact on the economy. Global warming is one of the main reason of locust attack and it’s high time we accept that this is a real thing.

My View – We should start working towards making our planet greener and contribute in lessening global warming. Recycle, Reuse, Reduce should be adopted by every single human in this planet. Let’s make these 3 R’s a vital part of our lives and move towards sustainable living.