FAO warns of locust threat to crops

Mauritania and Niger could suffer extensive crop destruction from an increasing number of locusts that has grouped in parts of the two Sahelian nations if not mitigated, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Monday. Over the last two weeks, FAO said, large numbers of locusts were seen in the northwestern Mauritanian areas of Akjoujt, Moudjeria, Aioun El Atrous and in areas east of the capital, Nouakchott. The pests were also seen inn northern Niger around Tamesna and Air. "The number of locusts is increasing rapidly," FAO said in an alert on Monday. "They are beginning to concentrate themselves into groups characteristic of an outbreak." A locust specialist at FAO headquarters in Rome told IRIN on Tuesday that the locusts did not as yet pose a danger to the crops because they were in a "transitory phase". She added: "But we had to issue the alert so that the concerned governments and other partners quickly take steps to mitigate the situation from getting to a point where the locusts start destroying crops." FAO and the governments of the two countries, she said, was carrying out extensive surveys to get a clearer idea of the exact areas where the locusts had gathered. The survey would also show the sizes and feature of the locusts so that an effective strategy to fight them could be developed. "FAO will also take the opportunity to carry out trials of bio-pesticides in Mauritania and Niger," she said. In the case of Mauritania, FAO said vegetation had dried out much quicker than expected causing locusts to concentrate in the northwest. Here, it added, adult locusts were forming dense groups of up to 40 per square metre. Five survey teams were working in the area, it added. The agency warned that reports of densities of 600 adult locusts per hectare in areas about 150 km northwest of Akjoujt, suggested that some locusts could move into southern Morocco in the coming weeks. In Niger, FAO said an outbreak was more likely with upto 50,000 immature adults being reported per hectare in areas of the north. The pests, the agency said, could also threaten southern Algeria because large numbers had been seen in northern Mali in early October. The pest, known as Desert Locusts, are one of a dozen types of short-horned grasshoppers that form dense swarms of adults or bands of younger locust that are highly mobile. In early stages of the swarm, the locusts present no economic threat. However after periods of drought, when vegetation flushes occur in desert areas, rapid population increase and competition for food force the locusts to devour all the vegetation on their route of flight.