Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar flagged off a Bell Helicopter with spray equipment from a helipad facility at Gautam Buddh Nagar, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.
The helicopter will fly for Air Force Station at Uttarlai, Barmer where it will be stationed initially and from there deployed for locust control in desert areas of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Nagaur. The Bell 206-B3 helicopter will have single pilot operation, has a pesticide carrying capacity of 250 litres in one trip and can cover about 25 to 50-hectare area in one flight, read a govt release.
Interacting with the media, Tomar said deployment of machines, vehicles and manpower has been increased and concerned states are utilizing SDRF funds to tackle the problem. Drones have been used for the first time for locust control and today aerial spraying of insecticides with the use of helicopter has also been launched.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Kailash Choudhary, Member of Parliament and former Union Minister Shri Mahesh Sharma, and Secretary, Agriculture Shri Sanjay Agarwal were also present.
Cabinet Secretary reviewed the locust situation on 27th May 2020 and directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to assist the Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare in facilitating the procurement of goods and services for aerial spray of pesticides through drones, aircraft/helicopter.
Thereafter an inter-ministerial Empowered Committee under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary, Agriculture was constituted for facilitating the procurement of goods and services for aerial spray of pesticides through drones, aircraft and helicopter. Officers of the MoCA, Pawan Hans, DGCA, Air India and DAC&FW are members of the committee.
Till now 12 drones have been deployed for locust control in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Nagaur. India has become the first country in the world to use drones for locust control after finalizing the protocols.
Presently major strategy of locust control is through 60 control teams with spray equipment mounted vehicles and more than 200 Central Government personnel are engaged in such operations in states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
As per the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Locust Status Update of 27.06.2020, swarms that accumulate in northern Somalia are likely to migrate across the Indian Ocean to the summer breeding areas along the Indo-Pakistan border.