Rural Damascus - SANA
The head of the Nabek Agriculture Department, Eng. Youssef Farah, confirmed that the migratory desert locust groups, some of which were located in the Qalamoun ridges, “Fleita and the garages,” in the Damascus countryside did not affect the cherry crop and did not cause any damage to it.
Farah pointed out in a statement to SANA's delegate that the Qalamoun cultivation, as soon as she knew of the arrival of these groups, and part of it was stationed in two cherry gardens, she took the necessary measures and started spraying pesticides to combat and eliminate them, pointing out that the rest of them have no harm because the bulk of them went towards the Lebanese lands and another part migrated Towards Nasiriyah and Jeroud, stressing that the cultivation of marigolds has taken all precautionary measures to eliminate it.
The head of the Nabek Agriculture Department explained that these types of locusts are desert and cannot settle here, even their eggs cannot reproduce because the land is rocky and unsuitable for them and they cannot live, so there is no need for fear, and he said that there is vigorous follow-up in coordination with the Directorate of Agriculture of Damascus Countryside to eliminate them.
The Assistant Director of Prevention at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Engineer Hazem Al-Zaila, confirmed in a previous statement to SANA today that the desert locust is sexually mature, and often the sexually mature locusts have very little nutrition, indicating that they arrived in the jungles of a continent while they are on cherry trees and moved yesterday to the ground.
According to the engineers who have discovered the trees, it has no effect on the trees, since it feeds very little, as it climbs onto the trees to lay eggs.
Al-Zaila stated that 350 dunums were controlled there, and a large part of the locust groups located on a continent migrated to the town of Arsal.
Ambassador Ismail