‘Locust swarms in Bahrain often not dangerous’

Manama, Feb. 20 (BNA): The Agriculture and Marine Resources Department at the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning said that it is following reports on the spread of hordes of locust in some regions in the Kingdom on Thursday, and that teams from the Plant Protection and Quarantine section are spraying the locust-affected areas. In a statement, the Agriculture and Marine Resources Department indicated that the relevant team had been following up on the developments of locust outbreak in the region since early February, adding that there is continuous communication with the National Centre for Locust Research and Control in Saudi Arabia to exchange information regarding developments of locust outbreak in the region. It explained that the locust outbreak was caused by an atmospheric depression from the southern side that ends in Manama, causing wind speed to reach 30 kilometres per hour, which contributed to transporting large locust swarms from Yemen and Oman to Dammam, Al-Ahsa and Buqayq in Saudi Arabia. It indicated that Bahrain is not within the locust itinerary, and that some locust numbers reach it from time to time, stressing that it is often not dangerous. The department asserted that according to the official classification of the Commission for Controlling Desert Locust in the Central Region, Bahrain is among countries in which locusts spread, and not those in which they multiply, and which include Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.