Desert Locust Bulletin 512 (3 June 2021)

Hatching and band formation in Ethiopia and Somalia
Despite an earlier decline, the current upsurge prevails in the Horn of Africa where good rains allowed breeding to continue with hatching and more hopper bands forming in eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia during May. In addition to aerial operations, ground survey and control teams will play an important role in fi nding and reducing hopper band infestations before they fl edge and form a new generation of immature swarms from late June onwards, which are expected to move to the Afar region in northeast Ethiopia for summer breeding in August and September.
Hopper bands declined in the northern interior of Saudi Arabia due to control and drying conditions. Nevertheless, immature adult groups and perhaps a few small swarms could form and move south to the interior of Yemen where conditions are favourable for breeding. Control operations were undertaken in parts of Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon against hoppers that hatched and formed small groups and bands as a result of earlier breeding by adult groups and small swarms that arrived in April. Although control operations continued in southwest Iran against hopper groups, a few small groups of immature adults could form and move east to the Indo/Pakistan border where small scale breeding is likely to commence with the onset of the monsoon. Once the summer rains begin, small-scale breeding is expected to occur in the Sahel of West Africa and Sudan from July onwards.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations