Crops in Egypt have been decimated by swarms of locust, estimated at close to 30 million insects, according to the Daily Mail. An emergency hotline was started by Israel’s Agriculture Ministry to help people deal with reporting sightings of the insects so they can prevent an outbreak as much as possible.
According to the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry, the bugs pass through the country during the normal migration from north east Sudan to Saudi Arabia. The agency said that the country is simply a ‘transfer station’ for the bugs.
A statement was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that said the following:
“The locusts originated from breeding that has been in progress since November in southeast Egypt between Berenice and the Sudanese border. ‘As vegetation dried out, small groups and swarms of immature adults moved slowly north along the Red Sea coast, reaching Marsa Alam on 8 February, Hurghada on the 16th and Zafarana on the 26th.”
Dr. Salah Abd Al Mamon, the Egyptian Agriculture Minister, said, “Egyptian armed forces and border guards are attempting to fight the swarm with all means at their disposal. I ask the families living in the locust-plagues areas not to burn tyres. This does not chase away the locusts, but only causes damage and could ignite largescale fires that would cost in lives.”