Muscat, Sep 14 (ONA) --- The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, today chaired the virtual technical meeting on combating desert locusts in the Near East (NE) region. The Ministry was represented at the meeting by Dr. Ahmed bin Nasser al-Bakri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources for Agriculture. The meeting, which is supervised by the Central Region Locust Commission in cooperation with the Regional Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in North Africa and Near East, aimed at exploring ways to combat the desert locusts in the Near East region. He added that the region is under a fierce attack from the desert locust swarms; one of the most destructive migratory pests and the most dangerous to food security and livelihoods. The current upsurge of desert locusts is one of the largest in recent decades affecting the Horn of Africa, Arabia and Southwest Asia, with the risk of spreading to the West Africa coast.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 14, 2020 15:11 UTC