Kadugli, October 11(Darfur24) Farmers in a number of villages in Habila locality, 190 km northeast of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, complained about the attack of locusts and starlings on agricultural crops, which has become a threat to the agricultural season and to Kartala scheme, whose area is estimated at about one million acres.
Bakri Madi, a farmer told Darfur 24 that the region is witnessing these days a wide spread of locust swarms and starlings in Kartala projects, noting the absence of the Ministry of Agriculture despite the reports submitted by farmers to the ministry, although the farmers committed themselves to providing a vehicle and fuel to identify the forests in which locust swarms are birds allocated. .
Meanwhile, Abdel Rahman Bakheet, director of plant protection at the Ministry of Agriculture in the state of South Kordofan, told Darfur 24 that the farmers of “Kartala” projects in the locality of Habila were late in reporting their case to the ministry and that there were previous reports from a number of localities that the ministry deals with priority due to its limited capabilities.
He mentioned that the ministry owns one spray plane, with which pest control operations began in the locality of “Al-Dabibat”, from which it moves to Abbasiya, then Abu Jubeiha, and then returns to the Habila projects.
The agricultural areas in South Kordofan state are estimated at about five million feddans, and they face the dangers of agricultural pests and security problems that result from the friction of herders and farmers.