The Tunis-based African Development Bank (ADB) approved a US$ 2 million donation to eight states, including north African countries, to back their locust-fighting effort.
The Bank said in a press release that Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Tunisia will benefit from the aid, to be managed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which will, for instance, purchase the necessary pesticides and equipment and rent spraying planes.
According to the UN body, the plague this year may be more serious this year compared 1987, which left US$ 300 million of casualties.
Six other donors- the EU, Japan, Italy, Norway, Spain and the United States, have joined FAO and ADB. They will set aside US$ 81,137 million out of the US$ 118,137 million needed to face the threat.
Meanwhile, small desert locust swarms were reported in southern Morocco in recent days, according to a source close to the Moroccan Regional Command Against Desert Locusts.
"Small desert locust swarms, quite mixed and having not yet reached the herd stage, have been reported in south-east and south Morocco," pointed out the same source, according to Essahra daily. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
