Chances of locusts reaching Karnataka remote: Minister
BENGALURU:
Even as locust swarms have ravaged hundreds of acres of crops in neighbouring Maharashtra, the Karnataka government is hoping its farmers will escape the devastation caused by the ravenous little insects.
“The good thing is that the wind is not blowing towards Karnataka. According to the met  department, the wind will be in a different direction, and 99.99 per cent it (the locusts) will not come to Karnataka, so farmers need not worry,” Agriculture Minister BC Patil told reporters on Thursday.
However, the state government is leaving nothing to chance and has set up a committee comprising senior agriculture and horticulture officials who will visit Kalaburagi, Bidar, Koppal and Yadgir districts. State officials are in touch with their counterparts in Maharashtra, the minister said.
Patil and Horticulture Minister Narayan Gowda held discussions on Thursday with department officials, disaster management officials and experts on how to counter the locust menace.
In the last few months, locust swarms have ravaged crops in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
An official release said the locusts are about 450 km away from Bidar district and may not reach Karnataka.
Patil said the swarms have started moving in an eastward direction. “They travel along the with the wind and not against it,” he said, adding that if required chlorpyrifos, a pesticide, can be sprayed on crops.
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