Nepal suffers plague of locusts

KATMANDU, Sept. 10 -- Huge swarms of locusts have damaged as much as 80 percent of the crops in some parts of Nepal, the nation's agriculture minister told Parliament Tuesday.

'This is the first time in Nepal that locusts have appeared in such swarms,' Padma Sunder Lawati said. 'A long-term strategy has been formulated to control the pests...(and) the Agriculture Ministry has also set aside special funds to launch an effective and immediate control program.' The central district of Chitwan, where 80 percent of crops have been destroyed, was hardest-hit, he said. Locusts also destroyed crops in the Makwanpur, Mohottari and Bara districts, although on a lesser scale, he said.