Desert locust swarms decline in Sahel but rise in northwest Africa – UN agency

The swarms of desert locusts devouring pastures and cropland across West Africa have finally started to decline in the Sahel zone after pesticide operations were stepped up there over the past month, the United Nations agency leading the battle has reported.

But the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the focus of the fight has switched to the region’s northwest, where many swarms are infesting land across Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria.

Few locusts remain in the Sahelian areas – the border zone between the Sahara Desert and the savannah – of Mali and Burkina Faso, FAO stated in an update issued on Friday.

However, hopper bands of young locusts are forming in the Adrar des Iforas region of northern Mali and in neighbouring Niger, and they are expected to start migrating northwards. Already some swarms have moved from the two nations into southern Algeria.

Plagues of locusts have devoured an estimated 3 million to 4 million hectares of land since the start of this year, with some swarms as large as 70 kilometres long.

International donors have been relatively slow to respond, but a sudden injection of funds recently after an FAO appeal allowed the agency to step up its pesticide-spraying operations.

FAO said more funds are required to combat the growing swarms in western Mauritania and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria, where pesticide operations have also begun.

The agency said several swarms still persist in northern Senegal and in Cape Verde, the Atlantic Ocean island chain off the African coast.