When spraying is done near inhabited areas, shepherds, farmers, residents of villages (close to areas to be treated) are generally instructed to keep a safe distance from the spraying and avoid re-entering the treated area immediately after the insecticide application. “These chemicals will remain in the ecosystem for long and that is a disaster on local ecosystems,” said Sumit Dookia, a wildlife biologist teaching at Indraprastha University in Delhi. As the swarms were quite large, large amounts of highly toxic chemical insecticides were used to control their spread, particularly in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The widespread spraying of harmful chemicals in a large landscape can have an adverse impact, experts said. Locust swarms have ruined crops in South Asia in 2020. “Under such conditions, to prevent crop and pasture damage, the most appropriate tool is the use of conventional pesticides, which provide fast and efficient control,” Latchininsky said. Between March to the middle of July, locust swarms were reported from several areas in Pakistan and in as many as seven states in western and northern India. In the case of the 2020 desert locust emergency, heavy rains early in the year tipped the balance by providing favourable conditions for breeding in large areas, and prevention was no longer feasible. “Insect growth regulators (IGRs) and biopesticides are most suitable for such preventive treatments.” “In dealing with desert locust outbreaks, FAO relies on the preventive strategy, which includes early detection of infested areas and rapid response, which includes targeted treatments of locust groups,” said Alexandre Latchininsky, pesticides expert at FAO. In addition, warning banners are put up to keep people away from such areas.” “Spraying is done in places where there is less movement of people and animals. “Pesticide spraying by locust control boards is not done near farms, residential areas and animal habitats,” said Desai, explaining the ideal scenario. The best way is to control the locusts in the desert areas where they are breeding, said Chetan Desai, a scientist at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in Gujarat. It is not an easy task to keep the adverse environmental effects of locust control to a minimum. “Generally, these are broad-spectrum chemical insecticides, such as pyrethroids, neonicotinoids and organophosphates, which may pose a risk to human health and the environment,” said environmental toxicologist Harold van der Valk, author of an FAO manual on pesticide risk reduction for locust control. Read more: Climate change favours locust swarms, India increasingly at risk There is also a potential for harm to local ecologies and signature species and friendly pollinators, experts note. The pesticides that kill locusts have toxic effects on the environment and human health as well. Once locusts start to breed and swarm, there is very little option but to spray large amounts of insecticides to control the outbreak. Experts have warned that such outbreaks can become increasingly frequent in the future. Locusts destroyed crops in large parts of India and Pakistan from March to July. “The desert locust situation continues to improve in southwest Asia,” the Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) said in its latest update. For five months from March 2020, hundreds of field teams were deployed in India and Pakistan to kill locusts that swarmed in several provinces in the two countries. The danger of locust swarms has passed for now. Wider use of biopesticides and effective traditional methods to control locust outbreaks are better and longer-lasting solutions that would minimize ecosystem pollution.The threat of locust swarms persists in the Indian subcontinent and experts warn of an increased risk of recurrence, which requires long-term strategies to combat the menace without endangering the environment.Large-scale use of pesticides to kill locust swarms in India, which saw the worst outbreak in three decades this year, is hazardous to human health and can potentially harm local ecosystems, and key fauna and flora.
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