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NAIROBI, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) – The Horn of Africa region could experience another round of desert locust infestation unless mitigation measures are put in place to prevent a potential crisis, said a senior official with the United Nations Organization for Agriculture and Food (FAO) said on Wednesday.
Cyril Ferrand, Resilience Team Leader at FAO’s Subregional Office for East Africa, said the voracious pests, which have been reproducing in a context of favorable weather, could invade large swaths of the Horn of Africa region.
“The combination of favorable rains since July in Sudan, part of Ethiopia, part of Somalia and Yemen facilitated the reproduction of a new generation,” Ferrand told Xinhua during an interview in Nairobi.
“In addition, new swarms have arrived and will continue to arrive from Yemen where we have limited capacity to conduct surveillance and control,” he added.
According to Ferrand, the strong winds currently blowing from the northern tip of the Horn of Africa south and bringing desert locusts back to south-central Ethiopia and Somalia could also land them in Kenya in late or early December.
He clarified that pests may not trigger a large-scale humanitarian crisis in the region compared to last year thanks to the deployment of strong surveillance and control measures.
“The situation is serious but not as bad as a year ago. In addition, we have many more capabilities deployed throughout the region to detect early and treat,” Ferrand said.
He said FAO led air and ground operations to combat desert locusts in the Greater Horn of Africa region, which began earlier this year, minimizing damage to crops and pastures.
“After months of intense control actions throughout the region (more than 1.1 million hectares treated since January), we witnessed a significant recession in the presence of desert lobsters between March and September,” said Ferrand.
He said a timely intervention succeeded in suppressing the intensity of the desert locust infestation in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, which in turn prevented their movements into the Sahel region.
Ferrand said that aggressive action against pests prevented the loss of nearly 1.7 million tonnes of grain, which was enough to feed about 15 million people for a whole year.
“In addition, we protect grasslands from devastation, which in turn allows livestock belonging to another five million people to graze and produce milk,” Ferrand said.
“In total we are talking about around 20 million people whose livelihoods have been protected in 2020,” he added.
The FAO official said it is possible to minimize the negative impacts of the impending desert locust infestation in the region, such as the loss of food crops and pastures, subject to strengthening mitigation measures.
He said FAO-supported control operations in Ethiopia and Somalia are expected to prevent pests from migrating south to Kenya.
Ferrand said that improved surveillance using cutting-edge technologies combined with the application of environmentally friendly pesticides is key to avoiding desert locust infestations in the region.
“We must continue with good surveillance of the new breed of brood and treat as soon as possible,” said Ferrand. Final product
