-Down to Earth The back of the Indian farmour is against the wall amid rising costs of inputs, climate change-induced risks and faulty market mechanisms More than 28 farmers and farm labourers die by suicide in India every day, according to the 2021 State of India’s Environment (SoE) report — an annual brought out by Down To Earth in association with Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The SoE report highlighted...
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The swarm before the storm -KD Prathapan
-Frontline.in As the threat of a locust attack looms, and as climate change threatens to increase the frequency of such attacks, Indian agriculture needs a more durable and long-term strategy to fight the menace. Life in the desert is defined by scarcity of water. The harsh, prolonged dry spells further restrict the availability of food resources for much of the year. Plants and animals in the desert have evolved various strategies to...
More »Hari Sharma, agricultural scientist formerly associated with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), interviewed by Kunal Shankar (TheWire.in)
-TheWire.in In an interview for The Wire, the former ICRISAT scientist says the damage could have been contained if the government had acted promptly to warnings. The desert locust is a deadly agricultural pest that has been on a feeding spree across North Africa, West Asia and South Asia. Lore and mentions of locust swarms exist in the Mahabharata, the Bible and the Quran. But it has been largely absent from the...
More »Locust invasions in a number of Indian states have arisen out of climate change induced extreme rainfalls in desert areas
In the midst of COVID-19 lockdown, desert locust swarms have been seen in parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in the second half of May 2020. The recent attacks by desert locust swarms have caused massive crop damage, depletion in the stock of cattle fodder and destruction of green vegetation in these states. As on 25th May, 2020, over half of Rajasthan’s 33 districts were...
More »'Never Seen Anything Like This': Madhya Pradesh Farmers Reel from Locust Attacks -Anup Dutta
-TheWire.in Government officials have attempted to spray pesticides on them before dawn, but to little effect. Bhopal: Nearly 10 districts in Madhya Pradesh are suffering from a massive locust infestation that is threatening crops at a time of harvest. “This really is the worst time for locusts to invading farmland, because the framers are just ready with mustard, cumin, wheat, flowers and vegetables,” said Kedar Sirohi, leader of Aam Kisan Union. Sirohi said there...
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