Mauritania hails cooperation with Morocco to fight locusts

Mauritanian Rural Development Minister, Ahmed Ould Ahmed, labelled as "ideal" Morocco-Mauritania cooperation to fight locusts.

"Morocco has made aircrafts and equipment at the disposal of Mauritania which contributed to limiting the effects of this plight," the minister told, on Monday, "Medi 1" radio.

The Mauritanian official noted, however, that the situation is still precarious given the zones invaded by locust swarms.

The Mauritanian capital was invaded by locust swarms that hindered traffic and wreaked havoc on plantations in the city.

Morocco has decided to extend aid to Mauritania to help it fight locusts. The aid consists of 50,000 litres of pesticides, vehicles, sprayers and three aircrafts.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched an appeal for funds in support of massive national locust control operations. Many affected countries do not have sufficient resources to control swarms and avoid serious crop losses this summer, FAO warned.

Desert locust swarms can travel more than 80 miles a day. Adults eat their own weight of food daily and swarms can devastate entire crop fields in minutes.

FAO had warned that the swarms threatening north-west Africa could be the worst in 15 years.