Report of the assessment of the situation of the areas affected by the spread of the desert locust

Weather of Arabia - Yahya Al-Daghiri - The recent reports issued by the Desert Locust Information Unit at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome indicate an improvement in the position of the desert locust along both sides of the Red Sea in April, but it intensified in the spring breeding areas in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Ran .

Extensive aerial and ground control operations were carried out that treated more than 86,000 hectares in Iran, where breeding continued for the third month in a row over a large part of the south, resulting in the formation of complete populations of nymphs and insects. And groups of nymphs and a few swarms .

Smaller-scale breeding occurred in neighboring areas of southwestern Pakistan, where control was carried out. There is a probability of medium risk of early movement of adults and perhaps a few small swarms towards the Indo-Pakistani summer breeding areas in mid-June .

Spring breeding began in the interior regions of Saudi Arabia, where groups and groups of nymphs were formed. Ground and aerial control teams have treated more than 27,000 hectares in coastal and inland locations .

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The swarms in Yemen were formed from a previous breeding in the south of the Empty Quarter, where they moved to all parts of the interior where survey and control operations were not possible, so the local population used to collect and eat the locusts .

Many swarms moved to Najran, Saudi Arabia, and a few groups of small insects moved from eastern Yemen to northern Oman, where they laid eggs and limited control operations were carried out .

However, small-scale breeding is expected to occur in Yemen and hatching will greatly increase locust numbers in inland areas where hopper groups are expected to form. In the rest of the places, local breeding occurred in northwestern Mauritania, where control operations were carried out, as well as in eastern Algeria, but the situation will remain calm .

The relationship of weather conditions with the reproduction and spread of desert locusts

The rainfall in good quantities in the spring breeding areas during the last period in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, southern Iran and southwestern Pakistan contributed significantly to creating suitable conditions for the breeding of desert locusts in those countries. It is described by the Food and Agriculture Organization as follows :

Western sector

Very little rain fell in April, with the exception of light to medium rains in eastern Algeria and southwestern Libya. As a result, environmental conditions generally remained dry and unsuitable for breeding, except in Algeria near Illizi and along the edges of irrigated farms in the Adrar Valley, and in Morocco south of the Atlas Mountains in parts of the Daraa valleys. Waziz Grace near the Algerian border .

middle sector

Light to medium rain fell in the spring breeding areas in the interior regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the western part of the interior regions of Yemen. As a result, the environmental conditions were favorable for breeding in Saudi Arabia between Riyadh and Hail and along the western edge of the Empty Quarter near Wadi Ad-Dawasir and south of Riyadh .

In Yemen, conditions were favorable for breeding between Al-Hazm, Ataq and Shabwa, mainly along the western edge of Ramlet Al-Sabatain and in the valleys that received rainwater from the higher ground .

Good rains fell at times on the interior regions and the coast of northern Oman, where the breeding conditions were suitable in some areas and improved in others. In the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea, the vegetation continued to dry out and the environmental conditions were not suitable for further breeding .

Eastern sector

Light to moderate rains fell mainly in the second decade of April in the spring breeding areas of southeast Iran and southwest Pakistan. The heaviest rains were in the coastal areas of the two countries .

Good rains also fell in southwest Iran in the first decade of the month, which led to floods on a large scale similar to the previous month. Environmental conditions remained favorable for breeding throughout the coastal and interior regions of southern Iran and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring Balochistan in Pakistan .