At least three talukas in Banaskantha have been the worst hit. Farmers claim their production of crops like wheat, castor, cumin and mustard will be affected badly as most of them have been destroyed. With locust swarms damaging huge number of crops in at least three talukas of Banaskantha district in Gujarat, the production of crops like wheat, castor, cumin and mustard along with other major crops will be highly affected, farmers in these areas have said. The swarm of locusts still persists in an area of 6km by 5km in Banaskantha. They sit on a green plant or tree and eat all the leaves. Entire farms suddenly turn barren. According to primary reports and farmers' estimates over 60 per cent of crops in Banaskantha will be affected, which is likely to result in short supply of wheat, castor, cumin and mustard. Vav, Tharad and Dantiwada talukas of Banaskantha have been the most affected. As per the government communique, crops in about 4,000 hectare (over 47,000 bigha) of land have been affected till now. The wheat crop that is hardly a month old has been eaten up by the locusts with no chance of the crop being planted this year as it is already late. Regarding the chance of sowing the wheat seeds again, head of the farmers' association in Palanpur, Parshotambhai Patel said, "It is hard to estimate the exact damage to crop as locusts have been swarming the fields time and again. The locusts are unpredictable. With winter having begun late, wheat farming was affected in the first place. Now there is no scope of sowing it again once the locust issue is over. So the season is effectively over for farmers. Also the season has not been good this year, so production will be low. It may fall to 50 per cent in the area." However, the state government has come out in support of the farmers and announced aid for them. While talking to reporters, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani promised assistance to farmers as per the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for natural disasters. Rupani also said, "A team from the agriculture team carries out surveillance and wherever locust swarms are found in open land it informs the central team that sprays medicine for about 11 hours to ensure all of them die." Ramesh Chaudhary who owns 15 bigha of land in Bhardashar village of Tharad claims he has made losses of Rs 6 lakh. Chaudhary told Mirror, "I had grown cumin, wheat, castor and fennel in my farm. My entire farm has been destroyed. Nothing has been left now. And there is no chance growing again. There has been major financial loss this time after damage to crops even in monsoon due to excess rainfall." Why do they eat crops? Locusts eat anything that is green. They love eating tender leaves be it crops, trees or plants. Large swarms with lakhs of locusts land in green area and eat up leaves, fl owers, fruits, seeds and bark, destroying the plant, tree or crops completely. How is their day like? As winter day catches heat they start fl ying and fl y for about 4 hours at the speed of 10km/h and then land, devour every green plant, crops and then move to an open barren space nearby to spend night. How they can be killed?  The only medicine that has been found eff ective against locusts is malathion96 in a specifi c manner and a specially designed vehicle by the central government. The medicine is sprayed in the fi rst 3 hours after dawn, as the respiratory system of locusts shuts down at night. They wake up with sunlight and that is when the medicine is sprayed to kill them. Why create loud sound to dispel them? Locusts usually land in the farm to eat leaves and then move on to an open space. It is unsafe to spray medicine in the farm as it is very poisonous. Creating loud sound will drive them away from the farmland to an open barren land where it becomes easy to spray and kill them. 30 sq km Locusts spread in Banaskantha. 3 talukas Vav, Tharad and Dantiwada of Banaskantha have been the most affected. 4000 hectares of land where crops have been affected 3000 hectares of land in 4 villages where insecticides have been sprayed. 39 teams working to control spread of locusts. Source - https://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.com