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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2007 
Locust Plague Casts Shadow on Mexican State of Yucatan
 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
| | Diana Rubi Pech Dzu, 4, walks among a cloud of locusts in the city of Cancun, Mexico, during a locust plague that invaded the outskirts of this resort city in 2005. (AP/Dario Lopez) |
A locust plague is casting a shadow on the south-eastern Mexican state of Yucatan by threatening around 5,000 hectares of crops and much of the region's vegetation.
The Yucatan Social Development Ministry said Thursday the 'cloud,' which is made up of hundreds of thousands of locusts - some up to 10 centimetres long - is several kilometres wide and is currently over the eastern part of the state.
The insects face optimum conditions for reproduction in forest areas in that part of the state, where difficult access makes it is virtually impossible to combat the plague.
Local media reported that the cloud has already reached the state capital, Merida.
Last year, a plague of the same locust species, scientifically known as Schistorcerca Piceifrons Piceifrons, destroyed over 400 hectares of corn and vegetables.
The locusts are currently threatening to move to the states of Campeche and Tabasco, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico north of Yucatan, authorities said. |
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