Continuous spraying of insecticides prevented new wave of locusts in Jhansi: Official

Rigorous spraying of insecticides has helped the Jhansi administration in containing the threat to crops from locusts as the swarms have scattered to other areas, an agriculture department official said Saturday.

The locusts had invaded the district thrice in the past one week, but they have now scattered and their density shrinked due to continuous spraying of insecticides, said District Deputy Director, Agriculture, Kamal Katiyar.

They have now moved to the neighbouring areas of Madhya Pradesh and going by the wind direction, it is less likely they would enter Jhansi district on Saturday, Katiyar said.

Because of moisture in the air and wind speed, the swarm could further scatter from Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh to Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

Last night, a swarm of 1.5 km was in Rajasthan's Alwar and it can move towards Bhangarh, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur.

"We are keeping a close eye," Katiyar added.

India is battling its worst locust invasion in more than 20 years. The crop-destroying swarms, flying in from Iran and Pakistan, first attacked Rajasthan and then spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.