'FAO does not foresee a locust invasion in Libya'

24 Mai 2020

Tripoli, Libya, May 24  (Infosplusgabon) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says its forecasts valid until mid-June indicate that locusts have not seen in southwest of the Libyan city of Ghat.

It said on the basis of surveillance works made in April it is unlikely that there will be any significant developments on the swarms of locusts in Libya.

According to reports published on Sunday by the al-Wassat newspaper, FAO is expecting a very limited breeding of swarms of locusts in Libya, Morocco and Algeria, compared with a second wave sweeping East Africa and several parts of the Arabic Peninsula, with significant agricultural losses.

A map prepared by FAO showed that swarms of locusts should spread in West Africa and in all the Arabic Peninsula in the months to come with the formation of new swarms of locusts in June.

The UN organisation says that a swarm of locusts can devour the same quantity of food that 35,000 persons can eat a day.

A locust expert of the FAO, Keith Chrisman, said that a swarm of locusts entering a field in the morning can devour it before midday, as the insects can travel up about 148 kilometers per day.

In April, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, warned that the world is facing a hunger crisis because of the locust swarms, regional conflicts and the coronavirus pandemic.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/GHI/GABON2020

© Copyright  Infosplusgabon