No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
23 °c
Tripoli
24 ° Sat
24 ° Sun
  • Advertising
  • Contact
LibyaHerald
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
LibyaHerald
No Result
View All Result
Home Libya

Reports of Ghadames locust infestation “overblown”

byGeorge Grant
November 16, 2012
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A

By George Grant.

A square kilometre of locusts can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people.

London, 16 November:

Reports that Ghadames has been overrun by swarms of locusts are over-exaggerated, Libya’s national locust director has . . .[restrict]told the Libya Herald.

Local media has carried reports claiming that locust-control teams are fighting a losing battle against plagues of locusts laying waste to crops and other vegetation in the area.

“They are a group, not a swarm, and there is no real damage to crops”, said Khaled El-Gadgoud, national locust director at the Ministry of Agriculture. “They entered Libya the day before yesterday, most likely blown in from Algeria by some high winds from Tunisia”.

RELATED POSTS

A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

“We have a team to check the area, and the locusts are scattering and dispersing”, he added.

Although the immediate threat has receded, Gadgoud cautioned the locust risk for this year had not yet passed. “It all depends on the weather, and the wind is the key factor”, he said. “Sometimes it is with you and sometimes it is against you; it depends on the direction”.

On 13 November, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation put out a warning that Libya was amongst the countries at risk of swarms forming in the region, adding that the situation “remains serious”.

Southwest Libya is a breeding area for locusts and the country is particularly vulnerable this year owing to the serious damage done to locust-control equipment as a result of last year’s revolution.

Just 22,000 hectares of infested land were sprayed in the southwest this year, out of an at-risk area of some 50,000 hectares.

Regular ground surveys by national teams in Algeria and Libya were also disrupted by the upheavals in Libya, with Algerian teams unable to check areas close to the border and work on the Libyan side much reduced altogether.

In May, Libya was hit by a serious infestation, when tens of millions of locusts laid waste to swathes of cropland before moving south into Niger and Mali. The plague was expected to return to Libya around October to November.

Locust infestations were also reported northwest of Ghat in January and, with limited resources after the revolution, preventative control measures were restricted during the key egg-laying period of February to April.

During a serious plague, a swarm can stretch for several hundred square kilometres comprising billions of locusts, each capable of eating its own weight in food a day.

The desert locust is a species of Acridoidea, or short-horned grasshopper, that can form dense and highly mobile swarms of adults or bands of hoppers (wingless nymphs). Females lay between 80 and 158 eggs and can lay several times in their three to five month lifespan. A one square kilometre swarm of these animals eats the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people. [/restrict]

Related Posts

Libya Herald exclusive: Responding to the prime minister’s call yesterday to the private sector and banks to do more, leading businessman Husni Bey responds
Business

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

July 2, 2025
Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg
Libya

Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg

June 27, 2025
MoI establishes Elections Security and Protection Department
Libya

Aldabaiba and Menfi stress use of polling feedback to establish consensus basis for constitutional process: report and analysis

June 26, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

“There is no state built by gangs and criminality, it’s built by engineers, youth, consultants, security, police and army”: Aldabaiba

June 23, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

June 19, 2025
Interior Ministry’s Diplomatic Missions Protection personnel receiving training in Ukraine
Libya

The Interior Ministry had spent LD 50 billion in 13 years with no result: Acting Interior Minister Trabelsi

June 17, 2025
Next Post

Egyptian entry visa row unresolved

Magarief in talks with Saudi King Abdullah

ADVERTISEMENT

Top Stories

  • Libya Herald exclusive: Responding to the prime minister’s call yesterday to the private sector and banks to do more, leading businessman Husni Bey responds

    Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All imports into Libya must be paid for through official bank transactions

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • CBL demands imports are conducted through official banking instruments and the elimination of the FX black market

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libya’s economy showed recovery in 2024, remained resilient despite reliance on hydrocarbons and ongoing political and security instability: World Bank

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
LibyaHerald

The Libya Herald first appeared on 17 February 2012 – the first anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. Since then, it has become a favourite go-to source on news about Libya, for many in Libya and around the world, regularly attracting millions of hits.

Recent News

A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

Sitemap

  • Why subscribe?
  • Terms & Conditions
  • FAQs
  • Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
  • Subscribe now

Newsletters

    Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

    Sending ...

    By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password? Sign Up

    Create New Account!

    Fill the forms below to register

    *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
    All fields are required. Log In

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Libya
    • Business
    • Advertising
    • About us
    • BusinessEye Magazine
    • Letters
    • Features
    • Why subscribe?
    • FAQs
    • Contact

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.