While northern and central Italy suffer from heat and drought, the island of Sardinia is hit by a plague of locusts.

The province of Nuoro in central Sardinia is particularly affected by the invasion of voracious insects.

According to the Coldiretti farmers' association, up to 50,000 hectares of agricultural land have now been destroyed by the swarms of locusts.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

  • Follow I follow

Hundreds of family businesses are threatened with a total loss of harvest and the production of animal feed.

The mayor of Noragugume hamlet, Rita Zaru, lamented: “Our farmers and ranchers are finished.

You have to watch how the work of a whole year is destroyed within a few hours.” In addition, the government aid promised after the locust plague of 2019 has still not been paid out.

Locusts multiply rapidly

Since the first major plague three years ago, locusts in the valley of the river Tirso in central Sardinia begin to multiply rapidly every spring from March onwards.

This year the situation is particularly catastrophic, said Mayor Zaru.

The swarms of locusts only settle down after sunset, only to darken the sky again shortly after sunrise.

The plague has now spread from fields and fields to inhabited areas, where the insects are destroying gardens and invading houses and apartments.

"The problem was underestimated," complained the mayor.

“Nobody listens to us, we feel abandoned by God and the world.

There is no help from the state and now more and more of our own people are fleeing.”

The drought, which has also persisted for months in Sardinia, and the high temperatures favor the proliferation of locusts.

This year, about 50 percent less rainfall was recorded in Italy compared to the average of previous years.

The fall in snowfall in the Alps, the Dolomites and Abruzzo was even 70 percent.

In Sardinia, a cool May was followed by exceptionally high temperatures as early as June.

These climatic conditions favored the breeding conditions for the locusts.

The insects hatch in a very short time and continue to spread.

The locust plague of 2019 was considered the worst in 60 years.

This year, the catastrophe is even bigger.

While three years ago about 2,000 hectares of arable land and fields for animal feed were destroyed, this summer already 50,000 hectares have to be written off as a total loss.