No need to fear about presence of Grasshoppers, says the NP Department of Agriculture

The NP Department of Agriculture had said that the farmers need not be afraid of desert grasshoppers.

They said so in response to an inquiry after news spread about the sightings of grasshoppers in the North.

Elaborating further they said that, they have investigated about the reports that desert grass hoppers had been sighted in Mawathagama in Kurunagala  District and in Kuppilan in Jaffna. They had found that these grass hoppers belong to Sri Lanka and not desert grass hoppers and the chances of desert grass hoppers coming to sri Lanka is very remote.

Normal grasshoppers could be manually destroyed or they will be eaten by birds such as Minah. If they are found in large numbers insecticides could be used against them, they said.