JEDDAH, 20 November 2004 — Saudi Arabia is braced for a possible invasion of locusts that over the past months have been invading swaths of Northwest and West Africa and have over the past days crossed into Egypt and southern Israel. Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture said the possibility of locusts reaching the Kingdom is high while the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said most of the swarms in northern Egypt were expected to move toward the Red Sea.

“The possibility of the locusts crossing into Saudi Arabia, especially along coastal areas, is high now that the swarms have reached Egypt and with the favorable weather conditions adding to the risk,” said Ghazi Hawari, director of the National Locust Research and Combating Center, an affiliate of the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture.

The locusts first appeared on the coast of Egypt from Libya and then moved southward in the Red Sea trench to traditional winter breeding areas on the coast. FAO has warned a few swarms could cross the Red Sea and reach the coastal plains north of Jeddah.

The locust infestation this year was described as “one of the most severe in a decade”, by FAO which warned that the swarms which also visited Lebanon, Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete could have the situation develop into a plague unless urgent control measures were taken. Such measures have successfully prevented widespread damage to food crops, it added.

Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria in Northwest Africa as well as Cape Verde islands, northern Mali and Niger were all affected. Mauritania has been the worst-hit country, with up to half of all cereal crops consumed by the insects. FAO has urged these countries to prepare themselves for another upsurge in locust numbers next year.

The stakes in the locust war are enormously higher today than they were in the past since the Saudi government has invested heavily in developing a modern agro-industry, not only in the traditional oases, but also in new areas of the desert made fertile through pivot irrigation.

The authorities said they have taken the necessary measures to meet any eventuality adding they have received early warnings from FAO and acted accordingly. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Abdul Aziz Al-Shitri said the Kingdom has made the necessary arrangements to face a possible flow of locusts into the country from Egypt.

He said early ground teams have been dispatched to monitor the situation along the Kingdom’s border areas, with workers operating round the clock even during Eid holidays that have been canceled to allow for a close monitoring of the situation.

Locusts can eat their own body weight in food, two to three ounces, each day. A single square mile swarm can contain from between 100 million to 200 million locusts, which can eat 220 tons to 720 tons of food every day. This is a quantity enough for 200,000 humans.

A single swarm of locusts can be small, extending over a hundred of square meters, or huge, composed of billions of the insects. In one day, they can fly 100 kilometers in the general direction of prevailing winds. They may breed in one country and attack in another.

In the past Saudi Arabia usually had desert locusts invading from East Africa with the anti-locust activity mainly concentrated along the Red Sea coast. The locust season usually runs from November through May. Most of the Saudi coastal areas are about 300 kilometers (190 miles) from the African shoreline and the port city of Jeddah is 200 kilometers (125 miles) away.

The southwest tip of the Arabian Peninsula is less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Djibouti. Locusts are known to hold the flight endurance record for insects, a confirmed distance of 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) from the Canary Islands to the British Isles. Riding the air currents from Africa they have no trouble reaching Saudi Arabia.

Hawari said the Kingdom maintains nationwide locust surveillance through a network of scores of offices run by the Ministry of Agriculture. FAO officials said they were confident the Kingdom could deal with any dangerous upsurge within its borders. It is self-sufficient in locust control and uses modern techniques, quickly mobilizing helicopters and ground control teams.