India: En route from Pakistan, army of locusts are set on their next target – Rajasthan

By Laura Oprescu

[...]

Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research had said the locusts first emerged in January this year from Sudan and Eritrea on Africa’s Red Sea Coast, hit Saudi Arabia and Iran in February, and entered south-western Pakistan in March.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), these insects first hatched in Saudi Arabia and parts of north and east Africa before proceeding towards the India-Pakistan border.

Farmers, especially cotton growers, in Pakistan have been facing sleepless nights over the approaching pests. The country’s textile industry depends on cotton production, and thousands of people are engaged in it. With an already weak economy, Pakistan cannot afford to lose its cotton, and especially when it has just received a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.

But statistics predict that the country’s textile industry is set to fall 18 per cent this year due to low cotton production.

Irregular rainfall and longer and hotter summers caused by climate change have already affected crop yields, making locust infestation potentially devastating.

[...]

Locusts are usually seen around June and July, as the monsoon arrives. However, unusually ‘good ecological conditions’ — caused by heavy rains and cyclones — have led to intensive breeding of locusts this year.

[...]