Brazil in crop emergency as locusts near and head to Uruguay
Brazil's agriculture ministry has declared a crop emergency in two southern states amid the possibility a cloud of locusts could enter the country from Argentina.
The "state of phytosanitary emergency" is a bureaucratic step paving the way for Brazil's government to implement plans to suppress the plague and take other emergency measures in case the insects reach the farmland in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states.
The ministry said in a statement it doesn't currently expect that to occur.
The cloud of locusts that originated in Paraguay and caused massive damage to its corn plantations has, for the past several days, spread through northeast Argentina and devoured crops there....MORE
