Swarms of locusts have invaded the Portuguese Argave region, one of Europe’s top tourist areas and home to some of the country’s most beautiful beaches.
The locusts are the same species that recently swept across Spain’s Canary Islands, according to an expert at Lisbon’s Faculty of Science.
Artur Serrano said the vast majority of the locusts in Portugal would not survive the recent cold temperatures and driving rain that has hit the region.
However, some may survive by hibernating in sheltered spots and make a comeback in the spring, he said.
”If they had arrived in greater numbers and at another time of the year they could have threatened crops,” Serrano told the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
In recent months the insects have caused widespread damage to farm land over a huge area of West Africa as well as the Sahara and the Maghreb region of North Africa. – Sapa-AFP