RSS affiliate wants India to ‘replicate’ Pakistan’s idea of turning locusts into chicken feed
New Delhi: RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch’s (SJM) national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan has suggested India should take a cue from Pakistan and turn the “locust threat” into “chicken feed”.
“I saw an article which shows that Pakistan has turned the locust threat into an opportunity by converting it into chicken feed. If there is a good idea originating from anywhere, we should be open to exploring such ideas. We should adopt good ideas, there is no harm in that,” Mahajan told ThePrint Thursday.
Mahajan further said, according to the article, the locusts can be caught in the night when they don’t fly and then can be converted into protein.
He also shared the article on Twitter and wrote: “Pakistan turns locust threat into chicken feed. Need to understand the idea and replicate it in India.”
The article stated “an innovative pilot project in Pakistan’s Okara district offers a sustainable solution in which farmers earn money by trapping locusts that are turned into high-protein chicken feed by animal feed mills”.
“It was the brainchild of Muhammad Khurshid, a civil servant in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, and Johar Ali, a bio-technologist from the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council,” according to the article.
Locust invasion
Both Pakistan and India have been hit by locust attacks.
These are desert locusts, which is one of the 12 species of short-horned grasshoppers. Swarms can comprise billions and travel up to 130 km in a day.
India has been battling the locust attacks with moderate success since December. However, the onset of monsoon could bring more trouble.
The print
