The Department of Agriculture Conducting Spray To Eradicate Locusts

The Department of Agriculture has conducting survey and spray in different areas to eradicate locusts and larvae and the process of spray in different areas across the district continued.

According to details, on the direction of Deputy Commissioner Dera Muhammad Umair, the Department of Agriculture has launched the process of spraying for eradication of locust (Tiddi Dall) in different areas and in this regard, locusts was eradicated at the identified places in Kot Zafar area of Union Council Loni of Tehsil Kalachi.

On this occasion, the representatives of the Department of Agriculture said that the locusts has the ability to cross 80km distance in a day time and they are changing time and again but the since his arrival in Dera Ismail Khan, timely steps have been taken to bring the situation under control.

He further said that the survey is being carried out continuously in this regard and wherever the presence of larvae is identified in their presence or breeding, immediate spraying is carried out in the concerned areas so that locusts for its timely eradication and safety to standing corps.

Locusts are a collection of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious.

No taxonomic distinction is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition is whether a species forms swarms under intermittently suitable conditions.

These grasshoppers are normally innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture. However, under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers a dramatic set of changes: they start to breed abundantly, becoming gregarious and nomadic (loosely described as migratory) when their populations become dense enough. They form bands of wingless nymphs which later become swarms of winged adults.

Both the bands and the swarms move around and rapidly strip fields and cause damage to crops. The adults are powerful fliers; they can travel great distances, consuming most of the green vegetation wherever the swarm settles.

 
 
 
The Department of Agriculture Conducting Spray To Eradicate Locusts