The field teams of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) in Saudi Arabia have explored and cleared 369,391 hectares of land of desert locust swarms during the spring season, from Feb. 1 till May 28. Of this area, 65,663 hectares were treated while the number of reports totaled 2,646. The ministry said that the general situation is settling down, turning towards calm during the breeding seasons in the Kingdom, in the wake of a fierce attack by desert locust swarms during the spring season. The declared situation of calm came after intensive monitoring, exploration and combat operations for four months during the season in Riyadh, Qassim, Hail and Eastern regions. MEWA confirmed that Saudi Arabia has been affected by the high intensity invasion of desert locust swarms due to the current locust outbreak, which is now in its third year. The threat from their migration from the neighboring countries is still existent. This is due to the aggravation of the situation there due to poor surveying and combat operations. This can be seen in the emergence of a different season in scope and timing and it is moving deep into the north towards the governorates of southern Riyadh, Najran, eastern Asir, and maybe east of the highlands of Makkah and Al-Baha regions. This is deemed an irregular season and it occurs when there is an outbreak of desert locusts in Yemen, the Sultanate of Oman and the Empty Quarter, MEWA said. Due to monitoring and the continuing invasion by desert locust groups and swarms coming across the southern borders, the ministry expects the occurrence of breeding for one generation in Najran Region, its eastern desert, in eastern Asir, and to a lesser extent in eastern Al-Baha and Makkah, and in southern Riyadh. MEWA explained that after the desert locust combat and control operations, the situation beginning in mid-July, will lead to complete calm, unless the locust invasions recur and we see the swarms on the highlands of the southern regions. MEWA also said that there is a low-level threat in the wake of the migration of swarms from Iraq towards the summer seasons in Yemen and Sudan, passing through Saudi Arabia.
