Swarms expected to cross Indian Ocean

Rome – Desert Locust swarms from Ethiopia and northern Somalia are expected to cross the Indian Ocean and could reach India and Pakistan in the next days, FAO said today. This potentially dangerous situation should be closely monitored in both countries.

Two recent tropical cyclones have caused heavy rainfall in Pakistan and western India that will create unusually favourable breeding conditions for locusts until October along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border and, for the first time in many years, in coastal areas of western Pakistan.

The governments in India and Pakistan have been warned and they are mobilizing field teams, equipment and resources in Rajasthan and Gujarat, India as well as in adjacent areas of Cholistan and Tharparkar deserts in Pakistan, FAO said.

"Desert Locusts usually fly with the wind and can travel up to about 100-150 km in a day," said FAO locust expert Keith Cressman. "Locusts can stay in the air for long periods of time. For example, locusts regularly cross the Red Sea, a distance of around 300 km."

Crossing the Indian Ocean on monsoon winds is part of the natural migration cycle of Desert Locusts and has already occurred in the past.

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Desert Locusts are migratory grasshoppers that often travel in vast swarms. A Desert Locust lives about three to five months. The life cycle comprises three stages: egg, hopper and adult.

A Desert Locust adult consumes roughly its own weight in fresh food per day -- about two grams. However, a very small part of an average swarm eats as much food in one day as about 2 500 people.