The swarms of locusts that filled the Cairo skies last month may have left nothing more than mild anxiety in the Egyptian capital, but they have caused widespread damage and panic elsewhere in Egypt.
Millions of red locusts migrated in swarms from their summer breeding grounds in West Africa to the northern Libyan coast on strong south-westerly winds before pushing into Egypt. Clouds of the insects, some up to seven centimeters in length, swarmed Cairo on November 17 and 18, before flying eastward to Egypt's Red Sea coast and neighboring countries.
The locusts, which can eat the equivalent of their body weight every day, caused little damage in Cairo during their one-day flyover, according to the ministry of agriculture. "The locusts have only damaged 30 feddans all over Egypt," said agriculture minister Ahmed Al Leithi last Monday. Government statements added that the damage was negligible because the locusts were sexually immature and highly mobile.
Nevertheless, independent reports contradict these government statements. The Land Center for Human Rights has released a report revealing that 38 percent of Egypt's Delta crops were damaged and that locusts swarms are still plaguing lands in southern Egypt. "It is expected that the danger of the locusts will increase soon as they are moving rapidly to the east of Egypt and invading the southern parts of the country," said the report.
While some experts believe that the damage estimated in the report was exaggerated, farmers all over Egypt said it was not.
In Ismailia hundreds of farmers gathered outside the governorate's headquarters to report extensive crop damage. They protested against the attitude of the government in dealing with the situation and the delay in control operations.
Said Abdel Fattah, a farmer in Ayyat near Giza, complained that locusts were still flying over his land and that he could not get rid of them. "The government did not give us the required pesticides so we had to use the traditional ways of fighting [the locusts] away," he said. "The result was that we lost 35 feddans of our agricultural land and if this continues we will go bankrupt. If the government does not believe us they should come and see for themselves."
In Wadi Gadid, where 450 feddans were reported to be destroyed by locusts, farmers also said they were not provided with effective pesticides. "The locusts were sprayed with pesticides but due to the nature of our land which is very flat we needed other more effective means," said one farmer.
Aswan in southern Egypt has also faced the same problems. Farmers there reported infestations in 65 feddans, leading Aswan governor Samir Youssef to post a 200 Egyptian pound ($30) reward for any person providing information on the gathering places of locust swarms.
Abdel Wahed Suleiman, chairman of one of the Modern Agricultural Companies, told the Middle East Times that locusts had invaded one of the company's agricultural lots on the Cairo-Alexandria road and devoured 600 feddans in less than two days.
A related problem agricultural landowners are complaining about is that the locusts have already laid eggs in the ground and will soon hatch. "When these immense numbers of eggs hatch, the result will be great number of fresh locusts that will eat the rest of our crops," said Ayman Abdel Ghafaar, an agricultural engineer and owner of a farm near Alexandria.
The reported high rates of infestations have led opposition newspapers to call on the agricultural minister to resign immediately for what they describe as a "large-scale national scandal".
In parliament 40 interpellations (serious questions that have to be answered by the government) were submitted to the ministry accusing it of negligence. The interpellations accused the minister and his anti-locust units of being incapable of dealing with the situation, lying and hiding the truth from the public.
Agricultural exporters claim that agricultural production has already dropped.
"The incapability of controlling the locusts has caused production to drop and this will affect the agricultural industry and has already caused food prices to go up madly," said Safwan Thabet, chairman of the food industries chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries.
Locust swarms damage Egypt's crops
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