Grasshoppers attack in Mato Grosso

A cloud of giant locusts was spotted in Mato Grosso in late August and has already caused damage to the surroundings of the capital, Cuiabá. The insects attacked fruit trees, defoliating mango, coconut and cashew trees, in addition to the production of vegetables. This would already be the second time that the insects have appeared this year. “This has never happened before. Here we have those small, green grasshoppers that are in the bush. These are huge and destroy everything they find ”, said Josefina de Almeida, president of the Quintas do Bandeira Residents Association. The predominance here is family farming. Technicians from the Secretariat of Agriculture of Cuiabá (MT), the Institute of Agricultural Defense of the State of Mato Grosso (Indea) and the local superintendence of the Ministry of Agriculture visited are mapping the plague. They were at the attacked site last week. The species of grasshopper found would be at least three times larger than the one that attacked ...