Wind direction wards off locust invasion — Agriculture Ministry

AMMAN — Minister of Agriculture Ibrahim Shahahdeh on Friday said that the wind direction continues to prevent swarms of locusts from entering the Kingdom. Shahahdeh said in a statement to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that he checked on measures put in place for locust control by the concerned authorities, noting that 120 specialists are ready to deal with any locust invasions.

The minister last Tuesday said that the state of alert related to the control of locusts had been raised from medium to high after follow-ups showed that desert locust swarms had reached some parts of Saudi Arabia, mainly Hail, some 500 kilometres from the Saudi-Jordanian borders. The Ministry of Agriculture last Thursday called on international organisations and countries in the region to exterminate the current generation of the desert locust in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen.