Swarms continue to form in Yemen and damage crops
The Desert Locust situation remains extremely serious in Yemen. New swarms have continued to form in the interior during the past two weeks. Some of the swarms moved into the central highlands and may continue to the Red Sea coast while others could still move to the summer breeding areas along the Indo-Pakistan border. Crop damage was reported in parts of Shabwah, Hadhramaut, Marib and Al Jawf regions. More swarms are expected to form during July and another generation of breeding could commence in August. Survey and control operations remain extremely limited due to prevailing insecurity.
Elsewhere, the Desert Locust situation is generally calm. Breeding ended in southern Morocco and northern Mauritania, and low numbers of adults are moving towards summer breeding areas in southern Mauritania. Isolated adults are present in northern Niger. Seasonal rains commenced in parts of the northern Sahel between Mauritania and Sudan where small-scale breeding will cause locust numbers to increase slightly during the summer. Isolated adults are present on the northwestern coast of Somalia and in northern Oman. In Northwest Africa, a few small hopper groups were treated near irrigated agricultural areas in central Algeria.