Locust threat in Sudan

Farmers in North Kordofan and North Darfur are complaining about the spread of locusts.

Bara and Sodari localities in North Kordofan, and Saraf Umra, Tawila, and Dar El Salaam are particularly affected, several farmers reported to Radio Dabanga from the areas.

The federal Minister of Agriculture, Ibrahim El Dikheiri, acknowledged the reports of the farmers about large swarms of desert locusts in these localities to the press in Khartoum on Sunday. He added that locusts were also spotted in the Red Sea state in eastern Sudan.

The Agriculture Minister of North Kordofan, El Nur Awadelkarim, said that aerial and ground control operations have started to eliminate the threat.

In eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref, Jamal Mustafa Osman, Director of Plant Protection reported that his institute already has developed plans to combat pests in its various localities.

Young hoppers and adults are forming groups in those areas in Sudan that remain green after the summer rains. A swarm of locusts covering a square kilometre can devour between 80 and 160 tons of crops a day, UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) calculated.

In the end of 2013, pest combat teams were widely employed in north-east Sudan to treat infestations in cropping areas.