Locust attack: Odisha govt issues alert message to create awareness

Sambad English Bureau Published On : May 31, 2020 at 7:59 PM

Bhubaneswar: In view of possible locusts attack in Odisha, the State government today issued an alert message to all the field functionaries of the Department of Agriculture to create awareness and monitor the movement of migratory pest regularly.

The government asked the Agriculture Department officials to issue awareness programme on locust control through different mass media, WhatsApp groups, voice SMS, m-Kissan, Ama Krushi Odisha, Community Radio Stations and video conferencing.

2024 poll preparedness: Chief Election Commissioner arrives in Odisha on 3-day visit

Dengue menace: BMC initiates awareness campaign in schools of Odisha Capital

This apart, the Assistant Agriculture officer and the Assistant Horticulture Officer and KVK scientist team were asked to conduct daily survey of their respective areas and prepare the report on arrival of any locust swarms in the prescribed format for intimation to the Block Agriculture officer on daily basis. A district level report will be prepared daily and report of any arrival shall be reported immediately to the head officer, the directive added.

During a convergence meeting convened under the Chairmanship of Director Agriculture and Food Production, Odisha with the team members of the State Level Advisory Committee members, it was decided to form the district level monitoring team comprising Chief District Agriculture Officer, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Project Director, KVK and CDAO. The team will report to the control room (0674-2394907) regularly.

The Chief Engineer (Agriculture) will prepare the availability of custom hiring centres, number of tractor and ULV spray pumps with farmers. Apart from this, a list of vehicles and spray pumps available with urban local bodies will be prepared, the directive said.

The Department of Agriculture was asked to survey the arrival of locusts and its settling down. The Chief District Agriculture Officers would mark such settled spots of locusts in their respective districts and shall allocate all such spots or sectors to different block officers of their districts.

The Block Agriculture Officer would deploy his team of his block in his respective area and make complete arrangements in coordination with the concerned line department. The officer concerned shall ensure use of spray pumps with the farmers in their respective areas, the alert message stated.