VOLGOGRAD, Russia, Aug. 5 (UPI) — Swarms of locusts have descended on farmlands in southern Russia, and have ravaged entire fields of crops. Officials from the Russian ministry of agriculture have declared a state of emergency.
At least 800,000 hectares are being affected as the host of insects, each measuring about 8 centimeters — about 3 inches — long, continue to destroy fields of corn and other crops, CNN reported.
Officials have said at least 10 percent of these crops have already been destroyed. Russian news broadcasts have linked the plague to climate change, pointing to recent flooding and exceedingly hot weather.
Sixteen districts of the southern region of Stavropol have been affected, forcing authorities to treat about 90,000 hectares of farmland with pesticides, NEWS24 reported.
“In Kalmikya, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Dagestan, there is already no food left for the locusts, so they have moved on to other sources of food,” said Tatiana Drishcheva of the Russia Agricultural Center, a government organization.
It has been more than 30 years since this part of southern Russia suffered such a concentrated plague of locusts, according to local officials.
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