Locust Warning Organization (LWO)
Objectives:
1. To monitor, forewarn and control locust in Scheduled Desert Area (SDA)
being International obligation and commitment.
2. To conduct research on locust and grasshoppers.
3. Liaison and coordination with National and International Organizations.
4. Human resource development through training and demonstration for
staff of Locust Warning Organization (LWO), State officials, BSF
personnel and Farmers.
5. To maintain control potential to combat locust emergency by organizing
locust control campaign.
However, the main objective of Locust Warning Organisation
(LWO) is protection of standing crops and other green vegetation from the
ravages of Desert locust which is one of the most dangerous pests
occurring in desert areas throughout the world.
Functions:
1. Keep constant vigil through field survey to prevent crop losses due to
locust attack in approximately 2 lakh sq. kms. Scheduled Desert Area in
the States of Rajasthan and Gujarat
2. Avoid upsurge of locust population in SDA and entry of locust swarms
into India through prompt control operations.
3. Hold Indo-Pak Border meetings for exchange of locust situation
information between two Countries to effectively monitor the situation
and ensure preparedness to tackle the emerging locust threat, if any.
4. Train the Farmers, State functionaries and locust staff on latest locust
control technologies.
5. Advise state functionaries, BSF personnel, Panchayat Raj Institutions to
inform the nearest LWO office if any locust activity was reported in their
areas for needful action.
6. Issuance of Desert Locust Situation Bulletin at fortnightly intervals to
inform all concerned stakeholders about emerging locust situation in
India.
7. Conduct research at Field Station on Investigation on Locusts(FSIL) at
Bikaner on bio-efficacy of pesticides and bio-pesticides for locust control.
Locusts are the short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory
habit, marked polymorphism and voracious feeding behavior. They are
capable of forming swarms (adult’s congregation) and hopper bands
(nymphal congregation). They cause great devastation to natural and
cultivated vegetation. They are indeed the sleeping giants that can flare
up any time to inflict heavy damage to the crops leading to national
emergency of food and fodder.
There are 10 important species of locusts in the world listed below.
S.
No.
English Name
Scientific Name
1.
The Desert Locust
Schistocerca gregaria
2.
The Bombay Locust
Nomadacris succincta
3.
The Migratory Locust
Locusts migratoria manilensis;
Locusta migratoria migratoria-oides
4.
The Italian Locust
Calliptamus italicus
5.
The Moroccan Locust
Dociostaurus morocannus
6.
The Red Locust
Nomadacris septemfaciata
7.
The Brown Locust
Locustana pardalina
8.
The
South
Locust
9.
The Australian Locust
Chortoicetes termenifera
10.
The Tree Locust
Anacridium Spp.
American Schistocerca paranensis
Only four species viz. Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria),
Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), Bombay Locust (
Nomadacris succincta) and Tree locust (Anacridium sp.) are
found in India. The desert locust is most important pest species
in India as well as in intercontinental context
Distribution:
The invasion area of desert locust covers about 30 million sq km
which includes whole or parts of nearly 64 countries. This includes
countries like North West and East African countries, Arabian Peninsula,
the eartwhile southern USSR, Iran, Afghanistan, the Indian subcontinent.
During recession periods when locust occurs in low densities, it
inhabits a broad belt of arid and semi-arid land which stretches from the
Atlantic Ocean to North West India. Thus, it covers over 16 millions sq
kms in 30 countries.
History of locust invasion in India:
Historically, the Desert Locust has always been a major threat to
man’s well-being. The Desert Locust is mentioned as curse to mankind in
ancient writings viz. Old Testament-Bible and the Holy Koran. The
magnitude of the damage and loss caused by the locusts is very gigantic
beyond imagination as they have caused the starvation due to its being
polyphagous feeder, and on an average small locust swarm eats as
much food in one day as about 10 elephants, 25 camels or 2500
people. Locust do cause damage by devouring the leaves, flowers, fruits,
seeds, bark and growing points and also by breaking down trees because
of their weight when they settle down in masses.
Locust plagues and upsurges:
The attack of the desert locust used to occur earlier in a phases of
plague cycles (a period of more than two consecutive years of widespread breeding, swarm production and thereby damaging of crops is
called a plague period) followed by a period of 1-8 years of very little
locust activity called as the recession period again to be followed by
another spell of plague. India witnessed several locust plague and locust
upsurges and incursions during last two centuries as indicated below:
Locusts plague cycles and upsurges in India
Years
1812-1821
Plagues
Years
1900-1907
1843-1844
1912-1920
1863-1867
1926-1931
1869-1873
1940-1946
1876-1881
1949-1955
1889-1891
1959-1962
Upsurges
Year
No. of swarms incursion
1964
004
1968
167
1970
002
1973
006
1974
006
1975
019
1976
002
1978
020
1983
026
1986
003
1989
015
1993
172
1997
004
Small scale localized locust breeding have also been reported and
controlled during the period 1998, 2002, 2005 , 2007 and 2010. Since
2010 till 2012-13, situation remained calm and no large scale breeding
and swarms have been reported. However, solitary phase of Desert locust
has been reported from time to time at some locations in the State of
Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Economic Importance:
In our country, in spite of taking control measures, damage to
crops caused by locusts during 1926-31 cycles, on a conservative
estimate, was about Rupees 10 crore. During 1940-46 and 1949-55
locusts cycles the damage was estimated at Rs. 2.00 crore each and it
was only Rs. 50.00 lakh during the last locust cycle (1959-62). Although
no locust plague cycles have been observed after 1962, however, during
1978 and 1993, large scale upsurges were reported. Damage estimated
was Rs. 2.00 lakh in 1978 and Rs. 7.18 lakh in 1993.
Thereafter, insignificant damage by locust upsurges were reported
largely due to the efforts of National, Regional and International
Organizations established to prevent plague under the overall
coordination of the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Scheduled Desert Area of India:
In India the Scheduled Desert Area (SDA) is spread over an area of
2.05 sq km in the state of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana as per the
details given below:
State
District
Tehsil, Taluka Area
Rajastha
n
Alwar
Bansure, Behror
Barmer
Barmer, Chohtan,
Pachpadra, Sheo, Ramsar,
Siwana
Bikaner
No. of
Area in
Villages
sq km
318
1380.30
1636
27,755.64
Bikaner, Lunkaransar,
Nokha, Sri, Kolayatji
Churu, Rajgarh, Ratangarh,
Sardarshahar, Sri
Dungargarh, Taranagar,
Sujangarh
673
22,611.13
940
16,806.12
Jaisalme
r
Jaisalmer, Pokaran
562
43,583.94
Jalore
Ahore, Bhinmal, Jalore,
Sanchore
612
12,208.56
Churu
Jhunjhu
nu
Chirawa, Jhunjhunu,
Khetri, Udaipur, Shekhawati
692
5,879.82
Jodhpur
Jodhpur, Osian, Phalodi,
Shergarh
624
17,660.10
Nagaur
Nagaur, Jayal, Didwana,
Ladnun, Nawa
878
11,132.70
Sikar
Sikar, Lachhmangarh, Neem
ka Thana, Fatehgarh, Sawai
Madhopur
1506
7,765.80
Sriganga
nagar
Sriganganagar, Anupgarh,
Bhadra, Nohar, Suratgarh
2308
12,466.56
1,79,250.
67
Total Rajasthan
Gujarat
Amreli
Dwarka Taluka
Banaskan
tha
Deesa, Deodar, Dhanera,
Palanpur (West of main
Ahmedabad-Rly Line),
Radhanpur, Tharad (Vav,
Santalpur, Sihori, Talukas)
Bhuj
Abdasa, Khadif, Khauvda,
Lakhpat, Nakhtrana,
Western-Half), Rapar
Halar
Drol & Parts of Jdia,
(Jamnagar) Kalyanpur, Khambalia,
Jamnagar, Lalpura,
Talukas lying along the
gulf of Rann of Kutch.
42
711.17
1086
9,843.09
655
7,013.47
221
2,374.50
23,077.5
8
Total of Gujarat
Haryana
Mohinder
garh
Mohindergarh, Narnaul
378
3,457.20
Total Haryana
Grand Total
Map of Scheduled desert Area
3,457.20
2,05,785.
45
 Locust Research (FSIL)
Mandate of Field Station for Investigations on Locust (FSIL):

To conduct research study on various aspects of biology, ecology and
behavior of Locusts and Grasshoppers.

To study and evaluate the different chemical and biological pesticides
against Locusts and Grasshoppers in Laboratory and field conditions.

To evaluate and evolve new techniques for the control and monitoring
of Locusts and grasshoppers.
Locust Biology


Life cycle: Locust life cycle has three distinct stages (i) Egg, (ii) Hopper and (iii) Adult.
Egg: Eggs are laid in pods in moist sandy soil at a depth of about 10 cms at an interval of 7
– 10 days. Gregarious female usually lay 2-3 egg pods having 60-80 eggs in average.
Solitarious female mostly lay 3-4 times having 150-200 eggs in average. The rate of
development of eggs depends on soil moisture and temperature. No development takes
place below 15°C. The incubation period is 10-12 days when the optimum temperature is
between 32-35°C.

Hopper:
After incubation is complete, the eggs hatch and nymphs (young ones)
emerge. There are 5 instars in gregarious and 5-6 instars in solitarious population. In each
instar there is a growth and change in characteristic coloration.
Ist Instar
Newly hatched are white but turns black in 1-2 hours.
IInd Instar
Head is larger and pale colour pattern is conspicuous.
IIIrd Instar
Two pairs of wing buds projects on each side of thorax
IVth Instar
Colour is conspicuously black and yellow.
Vth Instar
Colour is bright yellow with black pattern.

The rate of development in hopper depends on temperature. It takes 22 days when the
mean air temperature is hot say about 37°C and may be delayed up to 70 days when the
mean temperature is below 22°C.

Adult: The Vth Instar nymph moults into adult stage.
This change is called 'fledging' and
the young adult is called 'fledgling' or 'immature adult' means they are sexually immature.
The period of sexual maturity varies. In suitable condition the adult may mature in 3 weeks

and under cool and dry condition it may take 8 months time. During this stage, the adults
fly for search of favorable breeding condition and may cover thousands of kilometers.
Young immature adults are pink in color but old ones become dark red or brown in cold
condition. On maturation the adults become bright yellow. Males mature before females.
Oviposition commences within two days of copulation.

Locust Phases

Locust is generally found in two phases (i) Solitary, when it is so called inactive and
individual locust live scattered and (ii) Gregarious, when it is very active, the individuals tend
to remain together, breed rapidly and form swarms which leave the breeding grounds and
invade far distant tracts and even cross many countries. In addition to difference in
behavior, the two phases can generally be distinguished by colour and some anatomical and
morphological features. The two phases run into each other, as there are some individuals
which are intermediate in habits and physique and are therefore considered to be in
transient phase. A few differences between solitary and gregarious phase are as under:
Characterist
ics
Behavior
Solitary phase
-Do not form groups or swarms
Gregarious phase
-Form persistent and cohesive groups,
bands and swarm
-Roost, bask, feed and move as
individuals
-Roost, bask, feed and move together
-Hoppers move short distance, -Very mobile, fly as swarms by day.
adults fly as individuals at night
Hoppers move in band.
Colour
-Hoppers uniformly green in early -Hoppers have black pattern on
instars but may be brown in last yellow or orange background
two instars.
-Adults rosy pink on fledging, darkens
-Adult pale grayish brown, buffer with age to grayish or brownish red
peach coloured. Males change to then to yellow on sexual maturation.
pale yellow on sexual maturation.
Males are brighter.
-Female show no colour change on
maturation at low density.
Morphomet
rics
F/C Male 3.75 and above
Female 3.85 and above
E/F Male 2.025 or below
Female 2.075 or below
F/C Male 3.15 or below
Female same as above
E/F Male 2.225 and above
Female 2.272 and above
Note: C = Width of head, E = Length of forewing, F = Length of hind femur, measuring
Unit in milimetre

Breeding Season:

In all, there are three breeding seasons for locusts (i) Winter breeding [November to
December], (ii) Spring breeding [January to June] and (iii) Summer breeding [July to
October]
India has only one locust breeding season and that is Summer breeding. The neighboring
country Pakistan has both spring and summer breeding.

Locust Warning Organisation
In India, the scheme Locust Control and Research (LC&R) is responsible for
control of Desert Locust and is being implemented through Organisation known as
“Locust Warning Organisation (LWO)” established in 1939 and later amalgamated
with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage in 1946. Locust
Warning organization (LWO) is responsible to monitor and control the locust
situation in Scheduled Desert Area (SDA) mainly in the States of Rajasthan and
Gujarat while partly in the States of Punjab and Haryana. by way of intensive survey ,
surveillance, monitoring and control operations where required.

Mandate: Locust Warning Organisation is aimed to detect the local breeding in
Scheduled Desert Areas and incursion of exotic locust swarms into India. LWO keeps
itself abreast with the prevailing locust situation at National and International level
through monthly Desert Locust Bulletins of FAO issued by the Desert Locust
Information Service (DLIS), AGP Division Rome, Italy. Survey data are collected by
the field functionaries from the fields which are transmitted to LWO circle offices,
field HQ Jodhpur and Central HQ Faridabad where these are compiled and analyzed
to forewarn the probability of locust outbreak and upsurges. The locust situation is
appraised to the State Governments of Rajasthan and Gujarat with the advice to gear
up their field functionaries to keep a constant vigil on locust situation in their areas
and intimate the same to nearest LWO offices for taking necessary action at their end.

Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage is responsible for
adoption of suitable control strategy in Scheduled Desert Area only. However, the
liability of locust control in cropped areas lies with the State Government. Lot of
innovations have been made in the field of locust survey and surveillance for quick
transmission of locust survey data, their analysis, decision making, mapping of survey
areas through computerization, adoption of new software like eLocust2 and
RAMSES.

Restructuring of LWO:
During X five year plan, LWO has been restructured into
one Central Hqr. at Faridabad (Haryana), one Field Hqr.at Jodhpur and 10 Locust Circle
Offices (LCOs) at Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore, Phalodi, Nagaur, Suratgarh &Churu
(Rajasthan) and Palanpur& Bhuj ( Gujarat) by merging five Circle offices and 23 Locust
Outposts. Besides, there is one Field Station for Investigations on Locusts (FSIL) situated
at Bikaner. LWO maintains its own wireless network for exchanging information on locust
survey and control between Field Hqr. Jodhpur, Locust Circle offices and Central Hqr.
Faridabad. Wireless communication between Jodhpur (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) is also
maintained every year during June to Nov. for exchange of locust information between the
two countries. Satisfactory locust control potential is being maintained in the form of
pesticides, Plant Protection (PP) equipments, wireless sets and trained staff.
 Locust Warning Organization/ Locust Circle Offices
Desert Locust Situation for the last five years:
-
No major activities of Desert locust were reported during 2008, 2009 and
2011; however adults of solitary phase have been reported at isolated
places in District Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
-
Similarly, no major activities of Desert Locust were reported during
monsoon season in 2010. However an upsurge of desert locust population
was reported from 4th October to 8th November 2010 which was confined
to some areas of District Jaisalmer
(Rajasthan) .Total infested area of
about 4700 hectares was treated with 4700 liters of 96% Malathion ULV.
This prompt control operation was quite successful and locust swarms
were prevented from entering into cultivated areas and as such no crop
damage occurred.
-
During current year 2012-13, so far no major developments of Desert
locust were observed, however solitary phase Desert locusts have been
reported during survey only at a few places.
-
Physical and financial targets and achievements during the 11th plan
period
have been depicted in Annexure I & II while administrative
structure of the Scheme
and location of locust control offices (LCO)
is given in Annexure-III & IV
Locust Management :
Advance Planning:
1.
State Governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab are kept
informed about the probable locust threat well in time. They are advised
to keep their field functionaries in readiness to cope up with the situation
2.
Training programme for State functionaries, BSF and LWO Staff is
organized.
3.
A contingency plan is prepared.
4.
Meeting of officers and officials are held for planning the survey and
control strategy
5.
Permission for holding meetings between the locust officers of India and
Pakistan is obtained from Ministry of External Affairs.
6.
Procurement of pesticides to maintain buffer stock.
7.
Conducting Cholinesterase test for the staff engaged in locust control
work to see any adverse effects of pesticides.
8.
Locust Unit at Directorate’s Headquarters Faridabad/ Locust Warning
Organisation monitor the global ecological conditions and locust
situation along the Red Sea coast and winter/ summer breeding areas of
Southwest Asia region (Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan) which can cause
possible threat to India. National Locust situation is also monitored and
reviewed periodically.
9.
Provision of locust emergency fund as per the situation.
10.
Provision of standby aircrafts/ helicopter for control operation if the
situation so warrants.
-
During the year 2012, no major activities of Desert locust were observed,
however insignificant population of solitary phase have been reported in
recent border survey only at a few places. As per FAO Desert Locust
Bulletin, low numbers of solitary adults were present in the summer
breeding areas in Cholistan, Pakistan adjacent to Indian Border.
In view
of the steps taken in advance by LWO, the locust population remained
below threatening level.
Preparation of Survey Schedule and Contingency plan:
1.
An annual meeting of officers and officials of Locust Warning
Organization (LWO) is held wherein the locust survey schedule and
contingency plan is discussed and finalized to combat the impending
locust threat by undertaking the survey and surveillance work in
Schedule Desert Area of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
2.
Necessary steps are taken to fill up the vacant posts of different
categories.
3.
The surveys are conducted in the entire border/ coastal areas along
with Indo-Pak border in the States of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
4.
Contingent plan is prepared to ascertain the requirement and
availability of the resources required for locust control e.g.
Emergency fund, pesticides, control equipments, communication
equipments, vehicles, aircrafts, trained manpower, survey and
campaigning equipments, protective clothing and first-aid kits.
5.
Contingent plan include
– Assistance required from different
stakeholders, contribution and role of different stakeholders, calendar
of activities, type of strategy to be adopted, formation of teams,
deployments of resources, action required for mobilizing the
resources, short fall and ways & means of arranging the resources.
Constitution and deployment of Teams:
1. Following teams are constituted to organize control operation viz.
a)
Control Room Team
b)
Supply & Monitoring Team
c)
Micro ULVA Team
d)
ULVA Mast Team
e)
Micronair AU8115 Team
f)
Mechanical Team
g)
Aerial spraying Team, if required
2. Desired number of Airstrips are identified in Rajasthan & Gujarat to be
used for aerial operations and reconnaissance during locust emergency,
if required.
3. Total requirement of heavy and light vehicles are assessed based on
severity of locust infestation/ invasion. The Government of Rajasthan
and Gujarat are requested to provide required numbers of vehicles along
with drivers to LWO as and when situation so demands.
4. All the strategic locations are provided with wireless sets for quick
transmission of locust information to the Field HQ Jodhpur and Central
HQ Faridabad for onward transmission to DAC/FAO. Every circle office
is provided with computers with e-mail facility to transmit locust survey
and control data to LWO field HQ Jodhpur and central HQ Faridabad
through Internet.
Daily Activity Chart:
The following types of activities are performed daily:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Report of swarm movement/ / hopper bands/ settled swarm.
Deployment of ground/ aerial control teams.
Earmarking of infested area/ site on map.
Positioning of control teams/ pesticides/ aircrafts/ POL at control sites.
Issue of pesticides, control equipments, protective clothing, POL and
other store items required for control operation.
Reporting/ receiving of control data from field.
Compilation of field data like area treated and mortality achieved.
Compilation of control data, pesticides consumption and remaining stock
position and additional requirement in respect of vehicles/ pesticides/
POL.
Preparation of daily locust situation report and appraising the locust
situation to the competent authorities of State Government and Central
Government as well as FAO
Briefing to Pilot/ ground crew/ aerial parties/ ground control teams
regarding control operation to be taken.
Daily review of progress of campaign and planning for next day
operation.
Monitoring of Locust population :
Assessment survey:
This type of survey is undertaken in the field to monitor (1) the presence of
locust and (2) ecological conditions .In the said survey assessment is made
whether locust populations has crossed economic threshold level (adults more
than 10,000 per square km. and 5-6 hoppers per bush) that may require
control.
The surveys are undertaken in sandy areas with green vegetation and
about two weeks after rain has fallen. These surveys are done regularly during
whole of the year. The frequency of the survey is doubled from May to
November (rainy season) as compared to the frequency of surveys from
December to April. The surveys are undertaken from sunrise to midday and for
a few hours in the evening before sunset in the temperature range of 20° - 38°
Survey Methodology
Foot transect (FAO Method)
The Surveyor walks about 300 meters along the wind direction and observes
locust, vegetation, soil moisture etc. and feed the information in e-locust2 and
send the report to the headquarter.
Vehicle transect (FAO Method)
In this method the surveyor is in the vehicle and the vehicle is driven along the
wind direction for about one kilometer in the low gear and the locust adults
that fly up are counted. The information on locust and ecological conditions are
recorded in e-locust2 unit and sent to headquarter.
Survey during upsurges, outbreaks, plagues
Search survey
This involves searching the hopper bands and swarms by following up a report
from local people/ nomads/ BSF or any other agency. In this case ecological
conditions available at the spot where hopper bands or swarms are found are
fed into elocust2 unit and sent to Field Hqrs. This usually require hopper or
swarm control. This also involves survey of the spot in the following years for
checking any further locust infestation
 Target & Achievements
Year
Survey / Surveillance
( in Lakh Ha)
Target
Research
(Publication)
Fortnightly Locust
Bulletin
Nil
24
Achieve
ment
24
Control
Potential
2007-08
60
Achievem
ent *
135
2008-09
60
207
Nil
24
24
06
06
Well
Maintain
ed
-do-
251
Nil
24
24
06
06
-do-
2009-2010
Target
Indo-Pak Border
Meeting
(From June to
November)
Target
Achieve
ment
06
06
100
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13 up
to Feb.
221
Nil
24
24
06
04
-do-
100
100
255
Nil
24
20
06
04
-do-
150
154
Nil
23
23
06
06
---do--
 Intra Departmental co-operation
Organisation of Locust Control Campaign:
With the onset of locust season, an alert is issued to the State
Agriculture/Horticulture authorities of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and
Punjab. Other stakeholders like Ministry of Home Affairs, Defence, Science and
Technology, Civil Aviation, Communication, Aircraft Companies and Pesticides
Manufacturing Firms etc. are also requested for providing needful assistance
during locust emergency, if required. The role of different Stake holders is as
under:
Role of Different Stake holders
1. Ministry of Home Affairs
i)
To advise BSF authorities to extend help and to provide
facilities in border surveys.
ii)
To advise BSF authorities to extend help in arranging Indo-Pak
border meetings.
iii)
To grant permission for establishing direct wireless linkage
between Jodhpur and Karachi.
iv)
To extend help in reporting of locust population/swarm through
BSF staff.
2. Ministry of Defence:
To provide wireless sets (High Frequency and
Very High Frequency), trained manpower during locust emergency.
3. Ministry of Science and Technology: To provide meteorological data.
4. Ministry of Civil Aviation:
To grant permission from Air Traffic
Control (ATC) for flying aircraft during locust control operation.
5. Ministry of Communication: To renew the wireless telegraph license
granted to operate the wireless communication network of Locust
Warning Organisation.
6.
Departments of State Government:
i)
To report locust information to LWO.
ii)
To provide assistance in form of vehicles and manpower during
locust campaign.
iii)
To conduct survey, surveillance and control of locust in cropped
areas.
iv)
To create awareness among public and farmers about locust.
v)
To provide facilities to LWO staff during locust survey and control
campaign.
7. Aircraft Companies: To provide aircrafts/helicopters on hire basis for
locust control work.
8. Pesticide Manufacturing Firms:
To arrange supply of required
quantity of pesticides on short notice during locust emergency.
Execution of Locust Control Campaign:
1. Locust reporting – Reporting of swarm movement or their settling spot
etc.
2. Conduction of surveys to confirm the presence of Locust swarm / hopper
bands.
3. Chasing of locust swarm to ascertain the swarm settling site.
4. Deployment of control teams for controlling the settled swarm..
5. Mopping up operation.
6. Evaluation of control operation/ mortality in the afternoon.
7. Recording of the control data in e-Locust2.
8. Planning for locust control and survey work for next day.
9. Winding up of control operation.
Actions to be taken during locust high alert or swarm incursion:
1.
An emergency meeting among the State Chief Secretaries and Senior
Officers of DAC/ Directorate of PPQ&S is organized to finalize immediate
deployment of resources in the threat prone areas.
2.
Telephonic discussions with the state agriculture authorities like
Secretary Agriculture, Director of Agriculture and District Collectors of
threat prone districts for arranging immediate assistance and
cooperation to fight with locust emergency.
3.
Intensify the Desert Locust surveys in threat prone areas to detect any
locust swarm invasion.
4.
Regular liaison with FAO through e-mail or telephone.
5.
In-charges of LWO field functionaries are instructed to take stock of the
situation by deploying the teams in threat prone areas for conducting
survey and control operation.
6.
Control rooms are established in LWO Offices at district level.
7.
Meetings with District Collectors are organized to discuss the prevailing
locust situation and steps taken to control the locust infestation.
9.
Aircraft companies are approached to provide the aircrafts/ Helicopters
for undertaking the aerial spraying against locust swarms.
10.
Metrological Department is approached to provide daily wind pattern.
11.
Public awareness is created through electronic and print media.
12.
District and Village level committees are formed to monitor progress of
the locust control programme.
Mopping up and Post Control Operation:
1.
Control teams on return to their H.Q have to deposit the left over
pesticides and non-consumable store items to In-Charge of the office
2.
In-Charges of control operation have to ensure that all the pp
equipments are properly cleaned by the Mechanics before relieving the
Control team officials for their respective headquarters.
3.
In-Charges of control teams have to prepare a consolidated report on
operation conducted and submit the same to Field H.Q. for further
action.
4.
In-Charges of control teams have to ensure that all the bills pertaining to
locust control operations must be properly docketed, verified and passed
for payment at the earliest.

International Co-operation
International Cooperation/ Meetings
Participation in the meetings/ sessions of the FAO’s Desert Locust
Control Committee
2. Participation and organize the meetings/sessions of FAO’s
Commission for Controlling Desert Locust in South West Asia.
3. Participation in the Joint Survey Programmes with Pakistan and
Iran organized by FAO.
1.
Indo-Pak Border Meeting:
Indo-Pak border meetings between the
Locust officers of India and Pakistan are held every year (June to
November) either at Munabao (India side) and or at Khokhropar
(Pakistan side) for exchanging information on locust situation of both
the countries. During the year 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10, six
border meetings were held each year every month from June to
November. However, during the year 2010-11 and 2011-12, only four
border meetings were held due to engagement of the entire locust staff
in locust control operation in India during 2010-11 and in Pakistan
during the year 2011-12. During the year 2012-13, six border
meetings have been organized.
 Publication
FSIL/LWO contributed/ published 158 scientific research papers on
various aspects of Locusts and Grasshoppers in different scientific
journals of national and International repute.
Desert Locust Bulletin: Desert Locust Bulletins (DLBs) are being
issued at fortnightly intervals every year to all concerned at National
and International level to apprise them of the latest situation of
Desert locust in India.
 Organization chart
Administrative Structure of Locust Control and Research
Secretary Agriculture
Additional Secretary (Department of Agriculture and Co operation)
Joint Secretary (Plant Protection)
Plant Protection Adviser
Joint Director (Entomology)
Deputy Director (Entomology)(3 No.)
(One each at Dte’ H.Q. Faridabad, LWO Jodhpur and FSIL Bikaner)
Assistant Directors (Entomology) (3 No.)
( One each at LWO Jodhpur, FSIL Bikaner and LCO Bikaner)
Plant Protection Officer (Entomology) (4 No.)
(One each at LCO Jaisalmer, Bhuj, Jalore & Suratgrah)