ABSTRACT
Locusts has been considered one of the dreadful and destructive pests since the dawn of civilization, even mentioned in Holy Books and always considered world’s devastating pest attacking all crops, even all types of grasses, pastures, and trees. The devastation caused by the locusts is always alarming and threatening, leading to plagues and the losses caused by the locusts in India alone are more than thousand billion dollars (US $). To prevent losses caused by the locusts, Government of India established locust warning organization to mitigate the control measures in advance and it is the oldest organization in the globe to prevent locust invasion. The historical locust outbreaks of different intensities in India (1812, 1821, 1843–1844, 1863–1867, 1869–1873, 1876–1881, 1889–1898, 1900–1907, 1912–1920, 1926–1931, 1940–1946) had been reported and the losses have not been quantified collectively on all crops, pastures, trees, 174and the amount of money incurred by the government on procurement of huge pesticides for managing these locust outbreaks and other health hazards inflicting on human population and livestock. Recent outbreaks have been reported in the fragile environment of Ladakh. However, the big locust outbreak was reported in 2010 in India. Thirteen locust plagues were reported since 1964–1997, five between1997 and 2010, but these were controlled according to Locust Control Organization. But, no major outbreaks were reported during 2010–2018. The recent locust outbreaks of 2019 and 2020 have significantly affected badly major crops of India. The recent locust outbreak of India even reached to Delhi and even UP and affected human activities and nuisance to welfare of urban population. Ladakh is the second highest and coldest region of the World and the outbreak of locusts in Zanskar during 2006 is a cause of concern to fragile environment and 90% damage had been reported and since then small outbreaks in other parts of Ladakh have been reported. The management of locusts in India is elaborated briefly in this chapter with recent advances by using drone technology to eradicate the locust swarms aerially with precision, accuracy, and in a shorter period of time with ease. The damage caused by the locusts is so severe and consuming the livelihood of onetenth of the world’s population.
