Locusts threaten cashew crop
2005-01-11 11:20
Lisbon - Locust swarms which entered Guinea-Bissau from Senegal and Gambia in December are out of control and are threatening the impoverished nation's cashew crop, its main export, the country's media and parliamentary affairs minister has warned.
"If we take into account that our annual cashew exports are 90 000 tons and the crop is now flowering, this could seriously affect our trade balance," Filomeno Lobo de Pina told national news agency Lusa late on Monday.
He added the former Portuguese colony, one of the world's poorest nations, did not have enough resources to fight the locusts, which arrived on Friday in the capital Bissau, located in Guinea-Bissau's main cashew nut growing area.
Last week Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior called for international assistance to combat the locusts during a visit to northern and eastern regions of Guinea-Bissau where crops have already been destroyed by the insects.
Guinea-Bissau is the second biggest producer in Africa of cashew nuts and the fifth largest in the world.
- AFP