RIO DE JANEIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th June, 2020) Brazil's agriculture ministry declared a state of emergency in two southern states on Thursday as a giant swarm of locusts is making it way across Argentina.
The ministry said that a year-long phytosanitary emergency in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina will allow it to implement a plan targeting locust breeding grounds.
Argentinian national food safety agency Senasa said the locus cloud was moving south and likely to cross into Uruguay.
"We are hopeful that if anything from that cloud comes to Brazil it will be diminished. But we are monitoring it," Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina said.
The Brazilian economy is already reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The South American country has the world's second highest numbers of cases and virus-related deaths.
