The situation is already becoming traditional for the southern regions of the Russian Federation. Locusts came to farmland , which led to the introduction of an emergency regime. Crops are threatened with destruction. The rapid invasion of locusts is terrifying for everyone.
Invasion
Experts say that locusts have already captured a third of the crops. Means for its destruction are not enough, and help from the center comes late. Several years ago, this insect was fought on an area of 500 thousand hectares, and now this figure has exceeded two million.
Owners of fields in the Astrakhan region are still only assessing the damage from the locust invasion. The rural plague is what they say about it here; after it, almost bare fields remain. In many places, a terrible picture appears before the eyes: streams of insects go along the roads. The locust war is fought using aircraft. The locust invasion in the Astrakhan region brings enormous damage to all of Russia.
Ownerless land
Astrakhan received new types of equipment and tools for processing insect fields . However, according to farmers, there is little benefit from this: locusts often come from abandoned areas where they are not fought with.
No one cultivates ownerless land from insects. To address this issue, a law has been passed to seize these areas from owners. But it is problematic to obey. The Ministry of Agriculture confirms: the procedure requires a lot of time. Perhaps such measures will prevent the invasion of locusts in Russia.
In order to seize unused land plots, it is necessary to prove that they have become less fertile, and that the efficiency of their use is low. This should be a decision of the court and the municipality. Selected land plots are transferred through an auction to organizations that intend to use them effectively.
Migration
Locusts do not wait until decisions of the judiciary are made and executed, but goes where the most food is. Pests appear in central Russia and the southern Urals. The Orenburg region has previously met with locusts, but the number of insects is growing every year. Farmers comment on the locust invasion and ask for action.
Dagestan is also actively fighting insects: they managed to process the fields several times already. However, locusts still occur, the situation in the local Ministry of Agriculture is kept under control. The situation is not yet extreme, but the locust emergence rate is higher than its destruction rate. The region hopes for cooperation in this matter between the regions, without which an effective struggle will not work. Flocks of locusts often fly from their northern neighbors, which complicates the process of extermination of the pest. The colossal invasion of locusts in Bashkiria also shocked local residents and farmers.
During the flight, the insect per day easily moves up to two hundred kilometers. In this case, no one can predict the direction of movement. With increasing size of the flock, the rate of crop destruction also increases. As soon as insects get on the wing, spraying chemicals will lose effectiveness. And other countermeasures are still under development.
Methods of struggle
Astrakhan University has developed a special complex to combat insects. It lures pests and turns them into animal feed. Creating a working copy requires about seven hundred thousand rubles. A sponsor for this project has not yet been found. Perhaps in the future, an invasion of locusts will not threaten crops.
Locusts also eat monkeys. The zoo in Moscow does not have time to breed them for the needs of monkeys. And this nutrient must be present in sufficient quantities in the diet of animals. According to entomologists, the monkeys with all the locusts, of course, will not cope. The Darwin Museum believes that to effectively combat this insect, you need to better study it in terms of behavior. The locust invasion in Russia may be deliberate.
A flock of locusts has a leader, which is moving. Someone even had the idea of killing the leader so that the rest of the pack temporarily stopped moving. They tried to do this with laser weapons, but the result is still unknown, an employee of the Darwin Museum shares.
An absolute victory over the locust, according to scientists, can not wait yet. Science does not know the solution to this issue. The Ministry of Agriculture declares that in the whole country there are fewer insects than a year earlier. They also promised to destroy the locust before their flight. Agricultural producers who have lost part of the crops are not happy about this. The remaining farmers cautiously await the development of events. Today, an invasion of locusts destroys hectares of fields.