West Africa's war on locusts could last several more months as new swarms of young insects threaten to devour crop fields and pastures across the region, Senegal's agriculture minister warned. Swathes of land from the Atlantic coast to eastern Chad have been hit by the worst infestation in 15 years, threatening to unleash famine in parts of a region where many are subsistence farmers without the means to protect their crops. "It is a massive, frightening and alarming situation," Senegal's Agriculture Minister, Habib Sy, told Reuters after visiting one of the worst-hit regions in neighbouring Mauritania on Friday. "We are all affected. A single country cannot fight this invasion because it is a long-term battle that could last until December." The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation warned as long ago as October that locust swarms could wreak havoc on the region after exceptional rains and humidity following several years of drought allowed the insects to flourish. But West Africa's impoverished nations lack the money, equipment and chemicals to control the plague, meaning a new "summer generation" has started hatching after the first wave of insects sated its appetite for everything green. --MORE 1811 Local Time 1511 GMT
