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Middle East Is Being Battered By Huge Locust Plague Proving 2020 Isn't Done Yet

Middle East Is Being Battered By Huge Locust Plague Proving 2020 Isn't Done Yet

The situation has become so dire that the military has been called in to defend the area.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A humungous locust infestation has started to rip through parts of the Middle East.

First there were devastating bushfires in Australia, then World War Three was close to breaking out, and then a massive pandemic hit.

Surely 2020 can't get any worse, right? Well, try telling that to Iran, who is in the middle of one of the worst locust infestations in decades.

The problem has become so dire that the military has been called in to help fight off the flying beasts.

Mohammad Reza Mir, a spokesman for the ministry's Plant Protection Organization, said the locusts are estimated to have eaten through 200,000 hectares of orchards and farmland.

If nothing is done to curtail their migration, there are fears as much as a million hectares of land will be decimated by the swarm.

Hamza Khan/Daily Dose of Internet

Mr Mir told the news agency ILNA: "The military have promised to help fight the desert locusts, including by providing all-terrain vehicles for use in areas which are hard to access. Last year the military provided personnel and vehicles, and that was a big help."

According to the ABC, these locusts travel in swarms as large as 50 million insects and can travel over 150 kilometres and eat up to 200 tonnes of crops every day. Every. Single. Day.

They've affected seven of Iran's 31 provinces and have begun to edge close to the border with Pakistan. It's believed to be the same swarm that caused mass devastation across Africa earlier this year.

Billions of the insects have swarmed through places like Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, which has worsened the already incredibly unstable food supply. It also couldn't have come at a worse time with the coronavirus pandemic set in.

PA

Hellen Adoa, a minister at Uganda's agriculture department, said: "This is very active, destructive and we are worried it has come at the time of lockdown. We are a bit overwhelmed.

"The moment they arrive in a place the first thing they do is to eat anything green. They have destroyed some fields of crops and vegetation."

The swarms have been so dense in some areas that planes have been forced to abort landing and officials have found piles of the dead insects up to six inches high.

It's unclear when the issue will be resolved but it certainly seems like 2020 isn't done with providing a hell of a lot of issues.

Featured Image Credit: Hamza Khan/Daily Dose of Internet

Topics: News