Calm situation persists because of poor winter rainfall

No significant rain fell for the third consecutive month in the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea during February. Consequently, unusually dry and unfavourable breeding conditions persist in most areas. No locusts have been reported except for scattered mature solitarious adults at two places on the Red Sea coast of Sudan.

The poor rainfall this year has kept locust numbers very low in the traditional winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea at the time of year when locusts generally increase in number. Low temperatures and poor rainfall so far in the spring breeding areas suggest that breeding is likely to be limited and on a very small scale this year in Northwest Africa, the interior of Saudi Arabia and in southeast Iran and southwest Pakistan during the spring.

Unless unusually heavy rainfall occurs followed by substantial breeding, it can be anticipated that only very low numbers of locusts will be present at the beginning of the summer in the Sahel of West Africa and Sudan, and along the Indo-Pakistan border.

For more information, please download the Desert Locust Bulletin, from the below link:
http://desertlocust-crc.org/Download.ashx?File=App_Uploads/Bulletins/Files/180306021608DL473e.pdf