5 February 2025: Outbreaks continue

Key points:

• Overview: Outbreaks continued in Sudan, Eritrea and in the northern Sahel of Niger and southern Algeria.
• Current situation: Groups, bands and small swarms in Sudan; groups in Eritrea and Saudi Arabia; scattered locusts and a few swarms in Egypt; few swarms in Oman. Groups and breeding in Algeria; small swarms and breeding in Chad; groups in Niger; scattered adults and hoppers in Mali; adults in Morocco. 
• Control operations: Doubled during January (37 727 ha) compared to December (16 991 ha).
• Forecast: Second-generation breeding is expected to continue with hoppers, groups and maybe few bands along the coast of Sudan and Saudi Arabia, and perhaps southeast Egypt and Eritrea. New hopper groups will appear in southern Algeria and adult groups will persist in Algeria, northern Niger and Chad. Some control operations will be required.

The Desert Locust outbreaks continued in January in Sudan, Eritrea and in the northern Sahel of Niger and southern Algeria. In Sudan, hopper and adult groups as well as bands and swarms persisted along the Nile River and Red Sea coast where a second generation of winter breeding continued. Groups continued to appear along the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. A few groups and swarms were seen in southern Egypt. Scattered locusts and groups were present and breeding in Saudi Arabia. Few immature swarms were still present in northern Oman. Groups of hoppers and adults increased in southern Algeria and were present in Niger. Swarms were reported in northern Chad while some locusts were present in northeast Mali and Morocco. Control operations doubled compared to December.

During the forecast, breeding is expected to continue in the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Saudi Arabia and perhaps Eritrea and Egypt if more rainfall occurs. New hoppers, groups and maybe few bands will appear in the coast of Sudan and in the central Red Sea coast and the interior of Saudi Arabia in February. Adult groups will persist in northern Niger, Chad and southern Algeria while some may continue to move northward. New hopper groups will appear in southern Algeria where breeding may continue. Spring breeding is likely to commence in March in the interior of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and parts of Libya and Morocco. Control operations will be necessary. No significant developments are expected in the Eastern Region.

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