BEIRUT: A senior official at the Agriculture Ministry reassured citizens Monday that the emergence of locusts in several regions across the country was not as harmful as was widely reported.
“The emergence of locusts, individually and in small groups, should not cause concern because these insects have not reached sexual maturity and can’t reproduce,” Louis Lahoud, the general director of the ministry, said at a news conference.
He added that the ministry had been following up on the issue on a daily basis since the first cases of locusts were reported in several Arab countries, noting that an operations room had been established in the ministry.
Lahoud said the agriculture minister, Hussein Hajj Hasan, had telephoned the head of the Army, Gen. Jean Kahwagi, and the two had agreed to use Army helicopters to spray insecticides on the locusts in order to eradicate them if required.