Locust swarms infest three Yemeni provinces
SANAA, July 11 (YPA) – The Desert Locust Control and Control Center of the General Department of Plant Protection at the Ministry of Agriculture revealed on Tuesday the arrival of desert locust swarms to Yemen from Saudi Arabia.
A report issued by the center confirmed that the continued spread of locusts in the summer breeding areas constitutes a dangerous focus for the spread of this pest and the expansion of its threats to agriculture in the country, neighboring countries, and the region in general.
This requires supporting Yemen’s efforts to control locusts before they spread on a large scale, which threatens the sources of food security in Yemen and the region, the report added.
The report stated that the locust situation in Yemen during this period is witnessing a serious development as a result of the arrival of many swarms and their movement from one place to another in some provinces during the current week.
It explained that the first locust swarm was reported to have been sighted in the Sahar area of Saada province in early July, after which approximately 6-7 locust swarms reached some districts of the provinces of Jawf, Marib, and recently Sanaa.
The report indicated that these movable swarms caused damage and losses to agricultural crops.
Saudi Arabia has been witnessing an outbreak of desert locusts since last February as a result of the heavy rains and floods that occurred in late December 2022 and January and April 2023, which made the environmental conditions ideal for locust breeding, but it was not discovered until last March, according to the report.
The report pointed out that the environmental conditions at the present time are suitable for locust breeding in the summer breeding areas as a result of the availability of green vegetation cover in most areas of the provinces of Jawf and Marib.
According to the Director of Plant Protection, Eng. Ahmed Al-Kol, the field teams of the Desert Locust Control and Control Center carry out their activities in surveying, monitoring, and implementing control work in a number of areas in the provinces of Marib, Jawf, and Saada.
Al-Kol confirmed that the center is preparing daily and monthly reports and warnings on an ongoing basis, indicating that the entry of locusts into the country from several directions doubled the difficulty of control and tracking by field teams, in addition to the scarcity of capabilities in the center and the lack of an emergency budget to confront the invasion of locust swarms.
He stressed the need to activate the emergency plan prepared by the center within the desert locust response project, and to quickly provide an emergency operational budget to confront the current and upcoming swarms during the current period.