Locusts attack Guinea Bissua

  1. Posted on Tuesday 31 August 2010 - 10:00
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    John Afful Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Accra, Ghana
    Massive swarms of crop-destroying locusts have invaded more than 40 villages in eastern Guinea-Bissau and are heading north towards neighbouring West African country Senegal, a local government official, Queba Balde said.
    guinea bissau map
    "Heavy rains over the past days have not discouraged them, they are continuing to move towards the province of Farim, further north towards the Senegalese border," he told AFP.

    An official from the plant protection service in Bafata, the main city in the affected region which is 150km east of the capital Bissau on condition of anonymity has disclosed that they could count “between 125 and 150 locusts per square meter," adding "they are very voracious insects attacking the rice paddies and other crops. We tried with our limited means to defeat them, but without success."

    According to the agricultural ministry department spokesperson Juvenal Cabral speaking to AFP, the ministry has dispatched a team of experts to Contuboel, an area near the Senegalese border to the north, to assess the situation.

    "Our teams are on the ground to investigate the situation before providing the appropriate response."

    Locust invasions are a common occurrence across West Africa, devastating crops as harvest season begins.

    In 2004, a massive locust plague caused havoc in Mali, Senegal and Mauritania, and in October 2009 millions of locusts infested about 40 000 hectares in Mauritania.

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