Locusts Devastate Mauritania Crops - Other W. African States OK So Far

[hatrack]

DAKAR - "Crop-devouring locusts have caused major damage to cereals in Mauritania but other West and Central African states have suffered much less than feared from the worst infestation in over a decade, the U.N. said.

The huge swarms which descended on the semi-desert Sahel region south of the Sahara earlier this year had raised widespread worries of food shortages in the impoverished states. But the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that while cereal production across the Sahel would be down on last year's record of 14 million tonnes, it would remain within the five-year average of about 11.6 million.

Detailing initial findings from a survey of crops in the region, the FAO said both the locusts and a drought in some areas had caused a drop in production of crops such as millet, sorghum, rice and maize.

Mauritania was by far the worst affected, with some 50 percent of production lost, and would need food aid, FAO officials said."

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