Huge swarms of newly hatched locusts have started their march across the sands of Negev Desert in Israel, eating much of the nation’s technologically produced farmland, and teams of exterminators have been working nonstop to fight off the threat, NBC reported.
Israel uses high-tech irrigation to farm desert lands — and the majority of crops and produce that’s sold at Israeli groceries hails from the sandy land, NBC reported.
Agriculture Ministry officials have deployed a caravan of trucks, planes and helicopters equipped with pesticides to stave off the threat to the nation’s food supply, NBC said.
“They are easy targets now, but in two or three days when their wings develop, it will be a disaster,” said Lior Katari, an official with the Agriculture Ministry, in the NBC report.
It’s the worst infestation in decades, NBC reported.
Scientists said the locusts have come from Sudan through Egypt into Israel, where they mated and laid eggs — in the desert sand — which are now hatching.
When millions band together, they resemble a green carpet that moves.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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