Locust infestation “threatening and extremely serious” [Archives:2007/1074/Front Page]
SANA'A, August 4 ) A United Nations agency warned on Thursday that the locust infestation in Yemen remains “threatening and extremely serious.” “Egg laying, hatching and hopper band formation occurred within a large portion of the interior. By the end of the month, immature swarms started to form and were moving into crops,” the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed in its latest update.
The FAO confirmed that breeding has continued and new infestations were being found in areas that had not been surveyed. For example, groups of adult hoppers are present in remote wadis of the interior of Al-Mahara region near the Omani border. Other infestations were discovered in wadis in the southern plateau of Wadi Hadramaut.
“The most important infestations are in remote wadis in the plateau north of Wadi Hadramaut, extending from Al Abr in the west to the Oman border in the east. Other infestations are present in Wadi Hadramaut itself as well as in the traditional breeding areas in Shabwah region near Bayhan and Ataq,” the FAO stated.
Director of Desert Locust Monitoring and Controlling Center Abdu Far'i Al-Rumai praised local citizens who cooperated with control teams, particularly in heavily affected areas like Wadi Hadramaut. “As we informed the local citizens in Wadi Hadramaut of the existence of locust swarms in their region, they directly collected their bees' houses and animals to make it easy for the teams to start spraying insecticides,” Al-Rumai stated.
Al-Rumai confirmed that 30 percent of infected areas have been treated. That is 26,000 hectares. He expected that with the constant control operations, the center will be able to treat 80 percent of infected areas in Wadi Hadramaut. However, control operations have been hampered by the presence of beehives and because many infestations are in extremely remote areas, according to the FAO.
Nearly a dozen teams are working in the field. A fixed-wing aircraft is undertaking aerial control operations that started August 1. “A helicopter assists ground teams in surveying the extent of the infestations and identifying control targets,” Al-Rumai stated, warning however, of a new generation of hatching and band formation in September due to the rainfall season.
The FAO has already stated that more swarms will form during August. As vegetation dries out, swarms are likely to move within the vast interior between Marib and the Omani border where they will mature in areas that remain green. “Most of the swarms that form during August are expected to stay in the interior but there is a slight risk that some swarms could move to the Sana'a highlands and to the Red Sea coastal plains where good rains have fallen, or to southern Oman and continue to the Indo-Pakistan border,” the FAO reported.
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