Locusts swarms reach Sudan's Blue Nile state

Swarms of locusts reached areas in Sudan's Blue Nile state, a Sudanese daily reported on Friday. Citing agriculture officials, Akhirlahza daily reported the swarms have attacked areas in the state but they have not threatened agricultural production and land in the state. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has secured almost $US 1 million to help Sudan fight the current locust threat. Two days ago, Sudanese agriculture minister Abdul Halim Ismail al-Mutafi said Sudan is free from desert locusts whose swarms have reached many areas in Egypt. The desert locust is one of about a dozen species of grasshoppers known as locusts which - unlike other grasshoppers - are able to change their behavior in response to population density.