Swarms of locusts could cross the Indian Ocean from Ethiopia and Somalia and reach India and Pakistan over the coming days, the Food and Agriculture Organisation warned on Wednesday. "Desert Locust swarms from Ethiopia and northern Somalia are expected to cross the Indian Ocean and could reach India and Pakistan in the next days," the FAO said in a statement.
"This potentially dangerous situation should be closely monitored in both countries," it said. Swarms of locusts can have disastrous consequences for local agriculture as they devour crops along the way. The FAO said several Desert Locust swarms moved east across northern Somalia from eastern Ethiopia last week.
"The swarms are likely to continue to migrate on south-westerly winds that are associated with the southern Asia monsoon. These winds could carry the locusts from northeast Somalia across the Indian Ocean to the coast of Pakistan and north-west India (Bhuj, Gujarat) this week," it said.
The FAO said that two recent tropical cyclones have caused heavy rainfall in Pakistan and western India that will create unusually favourable breeding conditions for locusts until October along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border and, for the first time in many years, in coastal areas of western Pakistan.
The governments in India and Pakistan have been warned and they are mobilising field teams, equipment and resources in Rajasthan and Gujarat, India as well as in adjacent areas of Cholistan and Tharparkar deserts in Pakistan, the FAO said. Crossing the Indian Ocean on monsoon winds is part of the natural migration cycle of Desert Locusts and has already occurred in the past.
Last week, cyclone Yemyin brought heavy rains and flooding to coastal and inland areas extending from Balochistan in western Pakistan to Sindh in south-east Pakistan, and Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. Consequently, a few swarms could appear in the coming few days in any of these areas. If so, they are likely to mature quickly and lay eggs that will hatch later this month.
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