Locusts slash Mauritania’s crop, less damage elsewhere – FAO

Crop losses caused by the worst locust invasion in West Africa in 15 years are expected to be limited across most of the region, except in Mauritania, where up to 50 percent of cereal production may be lost, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) officials said on Thursday. According to the preliminary results of a mission conducted in nine West African countries by UN agencies, governments and inter-governmental organisations, concerted efforts by locust-control teams have been a success, saving the region's main food baskets. But in mainly desert Mauritania, swarms have munched through a huge swathe of the country in past months, devouring both crops and pasture land, and up to half of its cereal crop is under threat, Jean Senahoun, an FAO locust expert based at the organisation's Rome headquarters, said at a news conference in the Senegalese capital. In the remaining West African countries, control teams were able to contain locust infestations, meaning that damage to crops and pastures was expected to be localised, he added. In a statement also released on Thursday, the FAO said this year’s cereal production in the countries of the Sahel – the area just south of the Sahara - would be smaller than last year’s record harvest of around 14 million tonnes, but would remain within the five-year average of around 11.6 million tonnes. FAO officials stressed, however, that Mauritania, as well as individual families that suffered crop losses elsewhere, would need to be provided with food aid and farming assistance such as seeds and fodder in order to improve food security, and allow farmers to plant their fields and feed their animals. The swarms are now slowly leaving the region to return to winter breeding grounds in North Africa and Mauritania, meaning a fresh locust control campaign may be required in the summer months. The FAO representative in Dakar, Edouard Tapsoba, said there was a risk of a new locust infestation in the Sahel. “We have to remain vigilant,” he said.