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Despite a year of control efforts, a new generation of desert locust swarms now threaten the agricultural livelihoods and food security of millions in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. The United Nations is requesting funds to support surveillance and control operations in the most affected countries.
The other plague
Locust infestations have increased in recent months, especially in Ethiopia and Somalia due to favorable weather and rains. Locust populations are now predicted to increase further in the coming months and spread across the region, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said.
“We have achieved a lot, but the battle against this relentless pest is not yet over,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in a statement. “We must not resign. Lobsters continue to grow day and night and the risks are exacerbating the food insecurity of vulnerable families throughout the affected region ”.
Locusts have caused famines and widespread destruction since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, being famous for being one of the biblical plagues. However, in recent times, pests have become increasingly aggressive. The FAO estimates that desert locust swarms could threaten the livelihoods of 10% of the world’s population if current trends continue unabated.
The most effective way to combat locust outbreaks is through massive aerial sprays of pesticides. However, many countries lack the infrastructure and financial resources to mount a long-term pest management strategy. That’s why locust-ridden governments struggle to find solutions.
More than 1.3 million hectares of locust pests have been treated in ten countries since January thanks to international support and a response campaign led by FAO. This has helped prevent the loss of around 2.7 million tonnes of cereals worth $ 800 million, enough to feed 18 million people a year.
However, the fight is far from over. New locust swarms are already forming that threaten to re-invade northern Kenya and breeding is also underway on both sides of the Red Sea, posing a new threat to Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. This was compounded by Cyclone Gati, which allowed the locusts to spread.
The second wave
When it rains heavily and annual green vegetation develops, locusts can rapidly increase in numbers and, within a month or two, begin to concentrate and become gregarious. Unless controlled, this can lead to the formation of small groups or bands of wingless grasshoppers or swarms of winged adults.
Controlling these swarms is complicated by several factors. The swarm is very mobile, migrating from 50 to more than 100 km in one day; the period of total invasion often occurs in a relatively short time, sometimes as short as a month; the swarms are of variable size and can extend up to thousands of hectares. You basically have a huge but very mobile wave that you need to control in some way, and it’s not easy.
FAO maintains that the countries of the Horn of Africa are now much better prepared than for the last invasion. So far, the UN agency has received $ 200 million from donors, rapidly increasing its locust response capacity. More than 1,500 control personnel have been trained and there are 110 spraying vehicles in operation.
New generation of #DesertLocust swarms are threatening the agricultural and pastoral livelihoods and food security of millions of people in the #Horn of Africa And Yemen@FAO seeks funds for control operations 👉🏾https: //t.co/HIdNKTOHLd pic.twitter.com/VzEfVw9b1a
– FAO Lobster (@FAOLocust) December 16, 2020
Still, FAO is now requesting another $ 40 million in donations to increase surveillance and control activities next year. More than 35 million people are already acutely food insecure in the five countries most affected by locusts, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and this could be made worse by the current outbreak.
“We lost much of our pasture and vegetation to locusts and, as a result, we are still losing a good deal of our livestock,” Gonjoba Guyo, a herder from the North Horr sub-country in northern Kenya, told the BBC. “I have lost 14 goats, four cows and two camels to the locust outbreak and now there is a lot of fear.”
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