A SECOND, larger swarm of red locusts yesterday appeared in the Paphos district and started to attack crops; only hours after the government said it hoped to have the locust infestation under control by the end of the day.
The locusts were first sighted in the Akamas region of the island on Sunday, before spreading east towards Limassol.
But just after 3pm yesterday, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed another large swarm of locusts had appeared over the Akamas coast and had made its way towards the farming areas of Inia and Droushia villages. Residents notified the Paphos Agriculture department immediately and experts were dispatched to the scene to get to work on combating the pests, which are devastating to crops, with spraying machines. Farmers also took their own precautionary measures and closed down their farms.
Speaking on CyBC radio last night, Agriculture department official, Andreas Kazanzis said: “New information from the area of Inia revealed that it had been plagued by a new, swarm of locusts. We went to the area with out spraying machines and what we encountered was really something else.
“There is a very high population of the insects. It is a new wave that appears to have again come from the sea. We are going to try and deal with it tomorrow (today) with spraying machines and very possibly small planes belonging to the water department which are likely to be ready on Thursday morning.”
Farmers’ anxiety in the area increased at the news of the new wave, but Inia community leader Sophocles Pittokopitis assured them fewer crops had been damaged thanks to the Agriculture department’s speedy response to the problem.
He said: “The locusts appeared at around noon and managed to get into two or three vineyards…they started causing damage but the agriculture department was there and fought them off.”
Speakiing yesterday, Antonis Constantinou, Director of the Department of Agriculture, said: “Yesterday we dealt with 60 per cent of the problem and we will do another 30 per cent today, so that we should have the situation under control.”
The Agriculture Ministry launched an extensive spraying programme at the beginning of the week in an effort to exterminate the swarm.
But it appears the locusts, believed to be from north Africa, are playing hard to get.
“An area in the Peyia municipality had already been sprayed and we thought they had dispersed and disappeared. But then they reappeared in large numbers in Pissouri, Akrotiri, Paramali and Episkopi.”
The scale of damage has yet to be assessed but Constantinou warned potato and vegetable farmers to be extra vigilant: “These are the crops with the most damage so far,” he said. “Citrus and banana trees have been less affected.”
Local authorities in districts of Paphos and Limassol have been spraying affected areas insecticides called pyrethroids under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture.
“These are not too damaging to the environment as they have a short term action. Farmers can start harvesting again after seven days,” Constantinou said.
But environmentalists have expressed concern at the news.
Nick Symons, director of the Cyprus Environmental Studies Centre said: “spraying these substances on a limited scale is ok but spraying large tracts of land is hugely damaging ecologically.
“There is no need to eradicate the entire swarm,” he added. “These locusts definitely won’t breed here because the climatic conditions are not suitable for their long-term survival.”
The Agriculture Ministry says the unseasonably warm weather may have helped attract the locusts to Cyprus – the swarm is believed to be the first invasion of migrating locusts for decades.
But the problem of locust infestations is not new to the island. According to local environmentalist Martin Hellicar, locust extermination programmes were first started here by the British. “It was big problem around 100 years ago,” he said.
