UN: Locusts to invade Algeria by end of summer

Desert Locust Algiers – Hussein Saleh The United Nations has warned in a report about the  invasion of large numbers of locusts in southern Algeria by the end of the summer. The insects will be swarming from north Mali and Niger causing concern for the Algerian government as well as farmers are about the damage to agricultural crops.
Keith Chrisman, a senior environment expert at the UN, said: "flocks of locusts may move to Mauritania, Algeria, Libya and South Morocco which will threaten crops during the harvest period in Sahel region of West Africa."
According to scientific studies prepared by the United Nations agency, an adult desert locust  can travel between 100-200 kilometres a day and can consume roughly its own weight in fresh food, equivalent to about two grams every day. A very small part of an average swarm – or about one tonne of locusts – eats the same amount of food in one day as about 10 elephants or 25 camels or 2,500 people.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned at the beginning of this year, that large quantities of locusts in south-west  Libya and south-east Algeria would spread due to continued rainfall and growth of dense vegetation in some areas of Algeria, which led to the formation of swarms of the insects in the middle of May.
Swarms of locusts were also seen in eastern Chad and western Sudan. According to FAO, locust eggs are hatching  in northern Mali and Niger, and will continue to do so this month.
A meeting was organised in Algiers by the joint Ministerial Committee for Locust Control in order to examine practical measures to reduce this phenomenon, which characterises the Sahel region of Africa, particularly Niger and Mali.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,  Rachid Ben Essa, confirmed in June that  an action plan will be prepared for the summer, fall and winter periods to draw up precautionary measures to reduce the invasion of locusts on Algerian crops.
The proposed scheme includes the recruitment of 89 light vehicles for reconnaissance, 270 medium vehicles and 1024 sprays, according to Mr Mohammed Alazar, an official in the Locust Control section at the National Institute for Plant Protection who added that more than 35.5 million litres of pesticides are stored in 38 regions..
More than 48,000 hectares were singled out for special attention during the first six months of the current year, according to an official in the National Institute of Plant Protection.
The vigilant system to fight locusts, which has been running  since March 2012, has addressed over 48,000 hectares in states located in the west and south of Algeria to tackle this serious pest to crops.
The system detects the first hatching of locusts’ larvae, and intervenes with chemical protective drugs at a suitable time, according to the National Institute of Plant Protection which every year from April to June, holds a surveillance and control campaign in the targeted areas.