Experts alert to danger of locust outbreak

Agricultural and pest control experts are concerned at the potential for a locust outbreak in Yemen if swarms of the insects in neighbouring African countries, notably Sudan and Eritrea, migrate across its borders. Scattered groups of adult locusts have also been observed in their summer breeding grounds in the interior of Yemen, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultual Organization (FAO). Pest control experts have said the country needs to stay on alert, and also warned that the level of preparation is not as high as before because of tribesmen having hijacked equipment in Marib governorate, northeast of the capital, Sana. “We are very warned about the situation in Yemen as swarms of locusts have been found in some of the African countries, mainly Sudan and Eritrea, which are very close to the coast of Yemen,” said Fuad Bahakeem of the Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pest Diseases. The FAO established EMPRES in 1994 in an effort to minimise the risk of major crop losses, famines or other emergencies resulting from pests and disease. “Small-scale scatterings of locusts have been spotted in the governorates of Shabwa [some 470 km south of Sana] and Marib,” Bahakeem said on Tuesday. “Teams have been sent to the field to monitor the situation.” There are two types of locusts in Yemen: the desert locust and the African migratory locust, the latter common in coastal areas. The insects, which weigh about two grammes, can eat their own weight of green vegetation - leaves, flowers, bark, stems, fruit and seeds – in a day. When breeding conditions are right, they form dense and highly destructive swarms occupying several square kilometers. These swarms can strip an area of all greenery within hours. Nearly all crops, and non-crop plants, are at risk. Yemen faced locust invasions in 1986, 1987 and 1993, with a particularly serious outbreak in 1993. Outbreaks in 2002 and 2004 were successful controlled. Abdu Far’e al-Rumaih, general director of the Desert Locusts Control Center (DLCC) in Yemen, said on Tuesday that his organisation was monitoring the situation carefully. The potential danger from locust swarms in Eritrea, in particular, was still unclear, he said. There had been some indication that swarms of locusts have been located in some areas there, but more specific information was still lacking. “We have to monitor and be on alert,” he said. Al-Rumaih said that regional countries had addressed the desert locust situation during a meeting in Sudan from 23-29 July. “We have found out that Darfur [in western Sudan] constitutes an imminent threat to the neighbouring countries, as swarms of locusts have been detected in Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea,” he said. Darfur is currently more preoccupied with a large-scale humanitarian crisis and continued armed conflict than locust control. “This is sending alarms that we should get ready for any possible invasion,” al-Rumaih said. “We cannot assess how dangerous and alarming the Eritrea situation is for Yemen on the basis of information we get from Eritrea… we are sending an expert over there on Friday [5 August]. We are also expecting some invasion of locusts to Tihama Valley through the Red Sea.” However, al-Rumaih also warned that Yemen was not ideally placed to respond to any locust outbreak. “I can frankly say that we are not as ready as we were last year,” he said, “because some of the [pest control] devices and vehicles have been seized by some tribesmen in Marib”, some 170 km north of Sana. The hijacked equipment includes survey and field equipment, communications systems and two vehicles, at a total cost of more than $200,000, al-Rumaih said. The DLCC has 37 sprayers and enough pesticides, he said, but it does not have enough vehicles. There are only 12 vehicles available to it, while its contingency plan calls for 50. The centre has sufficient pesticide supplies and 37 sprayers, he said, but their usefulness was limited without sufficient vehicles. Yemen has had recognition from the FAO of the steps it has taken in the fight against locusts, according to al-Rumaih, with DLCC workers using the most advanced technology in remote sensing to control locust breakouts in 2002 and 2004. They country also has a good early warning system, he said, with 45 sources of information countrywide, and the DLCC has been chosen as a regional office of the Desert Locust Control Committee in central region. Although the locust situation in Yemen is “still not threatening and worrying” in the short term, “the danger lies in the potential swarms that might invade the country from the African Horn countries, as well as the potential rainfall in some areas,” according to Bahakeem.