March 15, 2019
Swarms of desert locusts have migrated to southern Iran from Africa and are now a threat in Iran for the first time in a quarter-century.
The state news agency said February 12 that the locusts had been spotted in the southern provinces of Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Fars and Bushehr.
Three days later, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said locusts from Sudan and Eritrea had crossed the Red Sea to invade Saudi Arabia and had now crossed into Iran and could reach as far as the India-Pakistan border.
It said the first swarm reached Iran at the end of January.
Jamshid Eslamiyan, an Iranian agricultural official, said, “The desert locust is among the most dangerous pests with the potential of destroying all greenery, including grains, fodder, vegetables, trees and even weeds on their path. The pest has attacked Iran’s farms two times before, in 1963-4 and 1993-4. The former caused heavy damage to the country’s farms and agricultural production.”
The FAO said, “Good rains along the Red Sea coastal plains in Eritrea and Sudan have allowed two generations of breeding since October, leading to a substantial increase in locust population and the formation of highly mobile swarms.”
It said, “The next three months will be critical to bring the locust situation under control before the summer breeding begins.”
Adult swarms can fly up to 150 kilometers a day with the wind and adult insects can consume their own weight in fresh food every day.