Recent happenings in Climate change and geopolitics converge to yield locust swarms that could affect the productivity of Indian crops. Examine (200 Words)
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IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· Massive swarms—called “plagues"—of the desert locust. Swarms as large as 2,400 sq. km, comprising 200 billion insects, have already damaged over 70,000 hectares of crops in Kenya according to FAO.
· Pakistan declared a national emergency over locusts. In India, several districts in Gujarat and Rajasthan have been affected, and the latter has announced a compensation of 13,500 per hectare to affected farmers.
Climate change and geopolitics
· In 2018, two cyclones a few months apart delivered rain to the Rub al Khali, the remote desert called the “Empty Quarter" of the Arabian peninsula.
· The resulting ephemeral lakes created new breeding grounds for the desert locust in a poorly monitored region. Insecticide spraying operations were not conducted because of the war in Yemen.
· The breeding continued before the swarms crossed the Gulf into Iran and the Red Sea to Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Here, too, conflict and political unrest limited control operations, leading to further breeding.
· In December 2019, another cyclonic storm hit the Horn of Africa, creating conditions for yet more breeding. Today, the situation is dire in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and is worsening in Uganda and Tanzania.
· Across the border, several districts in Gujarat and Rajasthan were affected and neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh, are now on alert.
· The national Locust Warning Organization was set up in 1939 and is well connected to international institutions created to manage locust risks. It publishes weekly bulletins, and even has a Twitter handle.
· Bulletins show when locusts were detected, the location, extent and tonnage of insecticide sprayed and the risk of future infestation.
· The Union government is procuring additional spraying equipment and planning helicopter and drone-based control operations should the need arise. Containing the swarms at India’s border states is crucial, as India’s agricultural heartland lies just beyond.
Shivangi 4 years
Please review.
IAS Parliament 4 years
Good attempt. Keep Writing.
HB 4 years
please review
IAS Parliament 4 years
Try to emphasize more on geopolitics. Keep Writing.
