Comprehension
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Read this text and say whether the statements are true or false. Give reasons, quoting from the text or using your own words.
    In a devastating new twist to the severe drought hitting southern Europe, France is now fighting a plague of hundreds of thousands of locusts which are devouring everything from crops to flowers in village window boxes. The worst invasion by the voracious insects is centred on Saint-Affrique in the Aveyron region where, for the first time since 1987, hundreds of thousands have hatched in the last week.
    An Aveyron cattle and sheep farmer Gérard Laussel expected the locusts to destroy his crop of "lucerne" grass which he uses to feed his animals. "At the beginning they seem small, insignificant insects but they grow very quickly. They eat everything that is green, leaving only stalks, and when they have finished they leave some kind of scent so the cattle do not want to graze on what is left."
    Aveyron Chamber of Agriculture says the locusts have hatched as a result of a drought that effectively began in 2003 and has never lost its grip due to insufficient winter rainfall. Farmers thought this summer's first locust invasion, at the end of June, would be controlled by thunderstorms. But when rain came earlier this month, the locust larvae simply lay dormant, and the insects have reappeared in record numbers since the beginning of last week.
    The chamber's development director, Patrice Lemoux, said: "There is nothing we can do for the 700 or 800 farmers affected. The locust has no known predator and the only insecticides which might make a difference are banned." Farmers in the region, many producing Roquefort cheese, are already furious with their government. A group of them led by anti-globalisation campaigner José Bové - himself a cheese producer - led 150 sheep onto the landmark Millau viaduct last Wednesday, blocking tourist traffic for three hours. The shepherds only moved their animals after securing a meeting this week with the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss improved compensation payments for losses caused by the drought last year.
    The locust infestation has come amid the serious drought, although ministers insisted yesterday that it was not as bad as during the heatwave in August 2003 when 15,000 people died.
1. Saint-Affrique has been fighting a plague of locusts since 1987.
2. Gérard Laussel thinks that the grass he grows for his cattle and sheep is endangered by the locusts.
3. The locusts eat both the leaves and the stalks of the plants.
4. According to the Chamber of Agriculture, there are more locusts when it doesn't rain enough in winter.
5. The rain earlier this month has reduced the locust population significantly.
6. The farmers could control the locusts with insecticides if they were allowed to.
7. The farmers who demonstrated on the Millau viaduct are satisfied with the compensation they have received from the government.