Locust Swarms Arrive In Senegal - Reuters

SANGHALKAM, Senegal - "Smoke rises from burning tires in the corners of Oumar Sakho's fields Monday as a swarm of mating, yellow desert locusts munches through his water melons not far from Senegal's capital.

Sakho's property is about 28 miles southeast of the capital Dakar and shows how far locust swarms have spread this year in the worst invasions to hit impoverished countries across West Africa in 15 years. The mature locusts were blown south by strong winds on Sunday and are now busily mating in the fertile fields near the capital as farmers try to fend off the airborne pests with smoke and noise.

A team of experts raced from Rufisque near the capital this week morning to assess the damage and to see how best to stop a new generation of voracious young insects coming of age there in the coming few weeks. "The situation has become critical in this zone. We will need a lot of resources to take on this invasion," said Lamine Diallo from the government's plant protection unit at Rufisque, as he watched a locust swarm chomping Sakho's crops.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned last week that the locust swarms infesting countries from Mauritania to Chad could develop into a full-scale plague without additional foreign aid."

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