Locusts head for Darfur

2004-07-30 08:54

Paris - An invasion of locusts that has destroyed millions of hectares (acres) of crops in North Africa is heading toward Sudan's vulnerable Darfur region, a UN agency warned.

No swarms have yet been reported in Darfur, which is struggling to cope with a conflict that has displaced more than 1 million people, but the risk of infestation is high, the Rome-based UN Food and Agricultural Organization said on Thursday.

At least 6.5 million hectares have already been affected in the Maghreb and the vast West Africa region known as the Sahel, while 6.3 million hectares had already been chemically treated, according to Sid Ali Moumene, an Algerian official heading his country's efforts to control the insects.

"This is the worst occurrence of locusts in the last 15 years. We don't have a plague now, but we're heading down that road," said Keith Cressman, a locust forecasting officer at the UN agency.

The Maghreb region of North Africa - Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya - was the first to be seriously affected this year by locusts. But a drop in numbers is finally being seen after intensive pesticide treatment and swarm migration, said Cressman.

Swarms currently migrating northwest

However, the swarms are currently migrating from northwest to West Africa, threatening Sudan and Chad.

"Now the rains have stopped and conditions are becoming dry in northwest Africa," Cressman said. "Any locusts that escaped the control operations there are moving over to West Africa. In the next couple of weeks, the situation will probably return pretty much to normal in northwest Africa, but it will get worse in West Africa."

Agricultural ministers from nine African countries met on Tuesday in Algiers, Algeria, to decide on a plan to control the swarms.

Ministers from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Chad estimated that roughly US$83m would be necessary to completely control the spread of locusts.

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia called on the international community for help. Earlier requests by the UN agriculture agency have raised US$7m in donations, to which the organization has added US$2m of its own funds.

Countries from the Maghreb agreed to provide assistance, primarily in the form of manpower and equipment, to Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Senegal in the Sahel region in the west, according to Cressman.

Desert locusts are a migratory pest, Cressman said, adding that they shift locations once the wet conditions required for their breeding cease to exist.

Locusts are present every year in Africa, but this year's swarms are especially big due to prolonged periods of heavy rain last fall. Some regions that normally receive about one millimeter of rain per year received 100 millimeters over two days of particularly heavy rain.

The rains allowed the wet conditions favouring locust breeding to last for six months, from October through March, Cressman said.

- AP