West Africa Braces As Locust Swarms Approach - 82 In Mali Alone

[hatrack]

BAMAKO - Swarms of desert locusts have swept into Senegal and Mali and threaten to destroy vital crops and spark a food crisis in West Africa's worst locust plague in 15 years, experts said yesterday.

Fakaba Diakite, head of Mali's Locust Fighting Unit, told Reuters that 42 swarms had been spotted in the country. Desert locust swarms contain up to 80 million insects per square km and travel more than 80 miles a day. Adults eat their own weight, or about two grams, of food daily and swarms can devastate entire crop fields in minutes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the locust crisis is the most serious to hit West Africa since a 1987-1989 plague which cost more than $300 million to contain. About $9 million has been pledged to fight the swarms this year.

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In neighboring Senegal, locust swarms have been seen in the north and north east around Matam and Bakel where about 950 hectares have been treated with pesticides. Mame Ndene Lo, who heads the Agriculture Ministry's division battling locust invasions, said swarms appeared to have moved to Mali, lured by an early start to the rainy season there."

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/26141/story.htm

[opihimoimoi]

1. Its all Bushies Fault....sinning too much