It’s Raining Locusts In Paphos

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

15 November 2004

Cyprus has recently been plagued with locusts, mainly hitting the Paphos area, and despite the island's recent heavy rains and a drop in temperature it is feared that the insects have not been deterred completely.

The Cyprus Government is doing its best to spray but fears that females bury their eggs in the soggy ground - one female alone can lay between 95-158 eggs and can breed three times in its life cycle.

Not since the last world war has Cyprus seen such swarms and the authorities are urging all farmers to spray their fields with pesticide. New sprays are being tested in Europe that will eliminate eggs as well as the grown locusts, but laboratories still have to make sure that the sprays don’t harm other animals and insects. Spraying at the moment is said to be working but the hunt still goes on to find further groups of insects. Small swarms have been spotted mainly near to the Akamas area but it is thought unlikely they will travel very far in the cooler weather.

It seems this nasty invasion has come from the Sahara and that the insects are at the beginning of their life cycle, which means they will be able to lay their eggs, giving them a good start in an unfamiliar country. The surroundings are also good for them as they are now very well fed and can live on for days.

An adult desert locust can consume roughly its own weight of fresh food each day, which is about two grams. A locust swarm can eat about the same amount of food in one day as 200 horses or giraffes or 2,000 people.

Average locust swarms can range between 30 and 70 million insects. These desert locusts are the nastiest of their kind and can live up to five months.

The reason for this surprising swarm of locusts has been the unusually high temperatures, attracting a type of locusts not seen before on the island; but experts are doing all they can to make sure that these swarms will be discouraged from visiting Cyprus in the future.

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