By IANS,
Agra : Farmers in several villages in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district are worried over recent attacks by locust swarms.
Ipe M. Ipe, an entomologist, found a few locusts lying in his lawn in Dayalbagh area of the city two nights ago. He immediately informed officials about it.
Now the agriculture department and other agencies are concerned as a large number of villages in Achnera, Fatehpur Sikri, Kheragarh, Shamshabad regions are threatened by locusts that can finish off the standing crop in no time.
Farmers have been advised to spray insecticides and light fires at night.
“Though so far there are no reports of any large-scale damage to crops, we are taking all precautions,” said an agriculture department official.
Arrangements were being made to rush additional supplies of pesticides to affected villages to control the locust menace.
In Khandauli block, a caterpillar type new insect has been eating away crops. Farmers have been asked to spray chemicals to control the spread of pests.