AHMEDABAD, DEC 26
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that his government will render all possible assistance for farmers whose crop was affected by locust attack. He was speaking in Vadodara at a farmers’ convention where he distributed government doles for rain-hit farmers.
Rupani accused the opposition Congress of misleading farmers on loan waiver and crop insurance scheme for its “vote bank politics”.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s statement came after representation from farmers and opposition Congress leaders, who visited the affected villages of north Gujarat.
CM added in a statement that a survey will be conducted shortly to assess the damage due locust. He added that 27 control room have been started and pesticide was sprayed in 1,815 hectare in north Gujarat.
According to The Times of India, the state government will use drones to spray pesticide in a bid to curb locust menace afflicting farmers in over 80 villages of Banaskantha. Talking about the means used to control locusts, Deputy Director of Locust Warning Organisation, Faridabad, Dr K L Gurjar said, “We are working collectively with the state government. We are mounting spray system on tractors and 11 teams are already in the field to control locust. As per our estimate, the swarm of locusts is limited to 2 km by 10 km area. We are planning to use drones on a trial basis to curb menace.”
To help the state government, six more teams of experts from Centre joined the five teams already operational in the state.
Interestingly, on Wednesday Gujarat BJP President Jitu Vaghani, Member of Parliament, Banaskantha, Parbat Patel and Congress MLA from Tharad Gulabsinh Rajput could be seen banging steel plates to keep locust away in a barren farmland.
Talking about the efforts being made, district agriculture officer P K Patel said, “We have borrowed 20 pumps from farmers to disseminate the locust control medicine manually. The affected areas mainly comprise of wheat, castor and cotton crops.”
How India controls desert locusts in Gujarat, Rajasthan
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told Parliament that since May 21, there has been an incursion of desert locusts in Rajasthan and Gujarat from areas bordering Pakistan. “Neither the desert locust control teams nor any state agriculture functionaries have reported any damage to the crops,” Tomar said. (Courtesy: The Indian Express, July 10).
India has a Locust Control and Research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), established in 1939 and amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the PPQS. The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.
The LWO publishes a fortnightly bulletin on the locust situation. The latest bulletin on the PPQS website, for the second fortnight of June, said control operations had covered 5,551 hectares by June 30. By July 3, this had risen to 8,051 hectares, according to the minister’s written reply in Parliament.
Cong misleading farmers on loan waiver, crop insurance: Rupani
Meanwhile in Vadodara, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday accused the opposition Congress of misleading farmers on loan waiver and crop insurance scheme for its “vote bank politics”.
His government had announced a compensation package of Rs 3,795 crore for crop loss due to unseasonal rain, which would cover over 56 lakh farmers, he said, addressing a farmers’ convention here.
During the event, the chief minister distributed financial aid to affected farmers from the districts of central Gujarat, including Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch and Vadodara.
“Congress misleads farmers on the issues of loan waiver and crop insurance for vote bank politics,” Rupani said.
He also assured that water would be provided for the Rabi season crops from check dams and rivers.
“The Gujarat government is committed to make farmers prosperous and will give them power, water and remunerative prices for their crops,” the chief minister said.
