YEMEN: Specialists fight new locust swarms
Pastor Dale Morgan
YEMEN: Specialists fight new locust swarms*
20 Mar 2007 14:36:58 GMT
Source: IRIN
SANAA, 19 March 2007 (IRIN) - Field teams combating swarms of migratory
locusts that descended upon 2,700 hectares of farmland in western Yemen
say they have the situation under control.
"The locusts have not caused damage since they are found on acacia
trees, and our teams are working hard to halt their spread," Abdu Far'e
al-Rumaih, General Director of the Desert Locusts Control Centre (DLCC)
at the agriculture ministry, told IRIN on Sunday.
He added that four teams, consisting of 28 men with six vehicles, had so
far decontaminated 450 hectares of the locust-infected Ras Katheeb area
of the Red Sea coastal province of al-Hudeidah, 226km from Sana'a, the
capital.
"The teams will fumigate the whole invaded area until 21 March.
Residents, who are helping our teams, have taken their animals to other
areas," he said, ruling out the possibility of more locust swarms in
other areas.
Al-Rumaih added that there were about 15 to 30 locusts in each square
metre of the swarm. With one hectare being the equivalent of 10,000
square metres, an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 locusts would be in
Yemen's swarm.
According to specialists, an adult locust can consume its own weight,
two grams, in food per day. A small swarm can eat as much food in a day
as 2,500 people and is therefore capable of destroying a crop field in
seconds. Nearly all crops, and non-crop plants, are at risk.
Last month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
warned that there could be a locust invasion in Yemen in March after a
spate in nearby Eritrea in December 2006 and after seeing locust numbers
continue to increase during January along the coast between Massawa in
Eritrea and the Sudanese border.
As such, Yemen's Ministry of Agriculture had already put in place an
emergency plan to combat any locust invasions. The plan included the
selection of nearly 300 people to fumigate locust swarms with 14
sprayers in 14 vehicles.
Yemen is at the crossroads of swarm migrations originating from eastern
countries - such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Oman - and
central areas – such as the rest of the Arabian Gulf, Sudan and the Horn
of Africa.
Swarms from any of these places could reach Yemen, depending on the
level of locust breeding, prevailing winds and rains, specialists say.
The country witnessed damaging locust invasions in 1986, 1987, 1993 and
1998, with 1993 having a particularly serious outbreak. Additional
outbreaks in 2002 and 2004 were successfully controlled.
There are two types of locusts crossing Yemen: the desert locust and the
African migratory locust, which is most common in Yemen's coastal areas.
maj/ar/ed