Fifty-two locust control stations in the Abu Simbel area, some 280km south of Aswan, are working to cut off the advance of swarms of locusts south of Aswan to the green fields on Egypt’s Nile Valley in Aswan and up north.
The locust swarms fly into Egypt from its southern border with Sudan, which stretches eastwards to the Red Sea and, if not stopped in their tracks, fly northwards into Egypt voraciously devouring all greenery until the land lies waste.
According to Ahmed Ismail, head of the locust control base in Aswan and the Red Sea, recent winds and rains in the area worked to attract locust swarms towards Egypt, wind being a major factor in the movement of a locust swarm which, according to Mr Ismail, may stretch over some two kilometres.
Mr Ismail said that the locust control base has 13 main stations and 52 sub stations which are all currently on high alert, ready with with the necessary manpower, vehicles, sprayers and pesticides to move to any spot where locusts may be spotted. He said that during the past few days the base was able to eradicate Desert Red Locusts from an area of 1,550 feddans (a feddan is approximately equal to 4,200 square metres) using potent pesticides.
Watani International
10 June 2019