About Tiddi

Tiddi (टिड्डी, Hindi for locust) watches for desert locusts in the twelve districts of India’s Scheduled Desert Area, in Rajasthan and Gujarat. For each district it shows what the latest field surveys found, how old those surveys are, and whether the weather is right for locusts to breed. It is part of Maplore, alongside Machhar.

Where the data comes from

Field officers of the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) survey the desert year-round and report what they find, including when they find nothing. Those reports reach the FAO Desert Locust Information Service in Rome and are published through the FAO Locust Hub, usually a few weeks later. The LWO also publishes a bulletin every two weeks, which is often more recent. Tiddi reads both, and shows the date of each.

What a survey means

A survey that finds no locusts is still evidence: someone went there and looked. Hundreds of these “nil” reports are what a calm year looks like. But a district that has not been surveyed for more than two weeks is shown as unknown, never as clear.

Breeding weather

Satellites cannot see locusts. What they and weather models can show is whether the conditions for breeding are there: about 25 mm of rain in a month, and soil still moist at egg depth. Tiddi shows this for every district, as weather, never as a sighting.

Across the border

India’s desert locusts breed first in Iran and Pakistan: along the coast and in Balochistan in spring, then in Nara, Tharparkar and Cholistan against the Indian border in summer. Tiddi shows what Pakistan’s and Iran’s own survey teams report through the same FAO system, the weather at twelve of those breeding areas, and where today’s wind would carry a swarm leaving each one. The wind paths are weather, not locusts.

2019–20

The map replays the last upsurge from its start in Arabia in 2018 to the districts it reached in India in 2020. The Indian part is built from the Ministry of Agriculture’s own releases: each district is shown on the days a release named it, on its 2020 boundaries. The regional part is FAO’s infestation maps and account. Replay 2019–20, or read How a swarm is made, which tells the story from the single insect up.

What it is not

Tiddi is not an official LWO or FAO forecast and does not imply their endorsement. To report a sighting, call the LWO in Jodhpur on 1800-180-2111.

Sources

• FAO Desert Locust Information Service and Locust Hub: fao.org/locusts
• Locust Warning Organisation, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage: ppqs.gov.in
• Weather and soil moisture: Open-Meteo (ECMWF and Copernicus data)
• 2019–20: Press Information Bureau releases of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; FAO Desert Locust Information Service maps; FAO in Pakistan

FAO Locust Hub data is used under its non-commercial licence, with acknowledgement.