Locusts will increase further and extend to other areas

The current situation and forecast are alarming as locust infestations are expected to extend to other areas in the Horn of Africa and southwest Asia.

Widespread rains fell in East Africa for the second consecutive month in April. Although control operations are reducing locust populations, another generation of breeding will cause locust numbers to increase further as new hopper bands and swarms form in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia during May and June. Swarms are expected to move further north in Ethiopia and Somalia with a risk that a few swarms may reach Eritrea and Sudan in mid-June.

The situation is very worrisome in Yemen because several swarms laid eggs in the interior where widespread, heavy rains fell, which will allow hatching and hopper bands and swarms to form.

In the Arabian Peninsula, control operations continue against hopper bands in parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and UAE, and hopper and adult groups in northern Oman. Any swarms that form in about mid-May can move to the summer breeding areas in Yemen, Sudan and along the Indo-Pakistan border. Some swarms could perhaps continue to Chad and Niger in June if they arrive in Sudan prior to the start of the summer rains.

In southwest Asia, hopper groups and bands are present in southern Iran and in Pakistan where substantive control operations continue. Adult groups and small swarms from breeding in Baluchistan, the Indus Valley, and Punjab in Pakistan will move to desert areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border from now onwards. This is expected to be supplemented by several waves of swarms coming from the spring breeding areas during June.

For more information please download the Desert Locust Bulletin from the link below:

http://desertlocust-crc.org/Download.ashx?File=App_Uploads/Bulletins/Files/200506082727DL499e.pdf