Prolonged drought and climate change have caused the active spread of locusts, which are advancing from the frontline areas and destroying this year’s harvest. About this told Serhiy Kornyushenko, manager of agrotechnology development of the Southern region of LNZ Group.
According to him, the current invasion of locusts in the Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions could have been predicted if the nests were monitored in time and the start of migration was monitored.
“Let’s put it this way, no one conducted such monitoring, mainly due to military operations, because locusts spread from the frontline regions. Now it is very difficult to fight locusts, complex measures are needed.” – stressed Kornyushenko.
He also noted that in the past, aviation was used to control locusts, but due to hostilities, this practice is now unavailable. In addition, the situation is complicated by the fact that in the southern regions, in particular in the Mykolayiv region, crops have already been destroyed due to heat and lack of moisture.
“Sunflower is already simply “burning” due to drought and heat, farmers no longer expect a harvest. Accordingly, they have neither the means nor the desire to fight for such crops.” – they write in the publication.
Although insecticides are used, their effectiveness is limited – the locust dies only after eating the treated plant. There are fumigation machines for operational spraying, but it is difficult to predict the direction of movement of the locust, because it often moves with the wind.
“The locust flies quite quickly from place to place, so you need to react very quickly. Systemic insecticides do not solve the problem. Well, the crops have been treated, but the locust will not die until it eats the treated plants. There are fumigation machines that spray insecticide, but here too you need to react very quickly. Besides, you cannot predict the direction of the wind, and the locust often flies with the wind.” Serhiy Kornyushenko explained.
