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 ewe breeder G�rard Laussel expected them to destroy his crop of lucerne which he uses to feed his livestock.

'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 Agri culture 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 Jos� Bov� - himself a cheese producer - led 150 ewes on to 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.

Although the problem in France is not yet as critical as in Spain, Portugal and Italy, by last night most d�partements had introduced water restrictions, ranging from domestic hosepipe bans to limits on watering crops.

The environment ministry said last week that the effects of the drought could be 'felt across most of France', and the impact of poor rainfall was most worrying from the Atlantic to the Paris region - the Loire-Atlantique, Poitou Charentes and the Oise.

Tomorrow, as part of the 30th anniversary commemorations of the Conservatoire du Littoral, a French version of the National Trust, which buys up coastal land to protect it from development, President Jacques Chirac will attend an emergency drought meeting in Poitou Charentes. Experts fear forest fires in high-risk areas such as Provence, Corsica and the Languedoc-Rousillon, which were devastated in 2003.

Jean-Marc Billac, a woodlands campaigner in Aquitaine, said: 'All it takes is a sudden change in the weather - a mistral or a temperature rise - for the situation to become critical.'

In August 2003, when the temperature in Paris exceeded 35C for three weeks, 15,000 people - most of them elderly - were reported to have died across the country. This prompted widespread criticism of ministers, who failed to interrupt their holidays, and of low summer staffing levels in the health profession.

The government has since provided incentives for old people's homes to install air-conditioning. This can save lives but increases electricity consumption.

Forecasters say the heat, with temperatures of between 32C and 37C, will continue well into this week. Prefects in all major cities have announced level three - out of four - alerts that allow them to reduce speed limits, cutting pollution, and raise medical staffing to levels used in winter flu epidemics.

The first short heatwave of the summer hit France in the last fortnight of June, killing two elderly people - a 74-year-old man in Paris and a woman of 84 in Lyon. Residents of Marseille were advised to avoid going outside at midday, and people on the Riviera were prohibited from filling their swimming pools with mains water.

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