Plague of locusts in Lanzarote
Several towns on the Island of Lanzarote are working from sunrise to sunset to try and deal with the plague of over 2 million locusts which could do irreperable damage to local crops. The plague is concentrated around Haría and Yaiza located on the part of the island which is nearest to Africa. The president of the Canary Island's regional government plans to visit the affected areas today.
According to the agriculture minister of the regional government, fortunately the locusts have not devoured crops as quickly as they usually do, because unstable weather and strong winds meant that they were too exhausted to go on the rampage as soon as they arrived at the end of last week.
However the sheer scale of the plague has led to the government putting the island on "red alert" as regional government and local community groups have spent the last couple of days fumigating (during the day - apparantly locusts congregate together during the day, so it is easier to kill large groups of them. When it becomes dark, they disperse), collecting up the dead locusts and keeping a lookout for new arrivals.
Last night no new clouds of locusts were detected, and experts hope that the plague has reached its peak and is on the decline. The latest weather forecasts predict a change of winds this afternoon and possible showers, which would signal the beginning of the end of the plague to the relief of local residents, agricultural workers and tourists.
According to the agriculture minister of the regional government, fortunately the locusts have not devoured crops as quickly as they usually do, because unstable weather and strong winds meant that they were too exhausted to go on the rampage as soon as they arrived at the end of last week.
However the sheer scale of the plague has led to the government putting the island on "red alert" as regional government and local community groups have spent the last couple of days fumigating (during the day - apparantly locusts congregate together during the day, so it is easier to kill large groups of them. When it becomes dark, they disperse), collecting up the dead locusts and keeping a lookout for new arrivals.
Last night no new clouds of locusts were detected, and experts hope that the plague has reached its peak and is on the decline. The latest weather forecasts predict a change of winds this afternoon and possible showers, which would signal the beginning of the end of the plague to the relief of local residents, agricultural workers and tourists.
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