Locust plague hits Egypt

FOR the first time in 50 years, millions - potentially billions - of locusts have swarmed into Cairo, posing a possible threat to the country’s agriculture industry and prompting authorities to initiate a pesticide-fuelled eradication programme.

At midday yesterday, the red insects could be seen flitting high in the sky, some landing on rooftops. By the evening, the skies were empty of the locusts.

Christian Pantenius, programme coordinator of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) office in Egypt, said strong southerly winds blew swarms of desert locusts into the Nile Delta region and further afield to the capital, Cairo. He said it was the first time locusts in such numbers had hit Cairo since the 1950s.