KATHMANDU, June 28: Experts have projected that the recent outbreak of Locusts in Nepal may last for more than a month.
On Saturday, a swarm of Locusts entered Nepal from Bara district via India.
Both the adult and premature Locusts have entered Nepal and can remain here for around a month, say experts.
Locusts at Rajasthan heading northeast, risk of entering Nepal
According to former director general of the Department of Agriculture, Dr Dilliram Sharma, a premature Locust can survive for a month while a mature one can survive around two weeks.
“If a matured Locust cannot lay eggs, it won’t survive for more than two weeks,” said Dr Sharma. “In order to lay eggs, it has to fly back to Rajasthan.”
“A locust, which usually migrates in large numbers- 80 to 100 million and destroys crops voraciously, however has entered Nepal in a swarm of few hundred thousands only,” said Dr Sharma. “So it can be controlled using insecticides.”
The Locusts which had entered Nepal from terai are now traveling toward the hilly regions as well.
According to experts, locusts get active during the day usually from around 8/9 am in the morning, begin devouring crops and leaves of plants and remain inactive in a single place during the night, so they can be killed and controlled using insecticides in the morning.
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