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Photographer: Getty Images / Getty Images
Photographer: Getty Images / Getty Images
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is seeking $ 40 million to help combat desert locusts, with new swarms observed in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
The funds will support surveillance and control operations in the worst affected countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, FAO said in a statement on Wednesday.
More than 1,500 people have been trained in pest surveillance and control. The operation currently has about 20 aircraft and 110 ground vehicle sprinklers.
The arrival of the new swarms means that the largest insect infestation in seven decades will continue into the new year, threatening the food security of millions of people in parts of Africa and the Middle East. In May, the World Bank approved $ 500 million to help fight pests. A single swarm contains up to 80 million locusts that can destroy enough crops to feed 2,500 people for a year.
“Locust swarms are already forming and threaten to re-invade northern Kenya,” FAO said in the statement. “Breeding is also underway on both sides of the Red Sea, posing a new threat to Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.”
FAO is leading efforts to combat the locust invasion and, together with its partners, helped eliminate more than 1.3 million hectares of pests in 10 countries this year. That helped prevent the loss of approximately 2.7 million tons of grain worth nearly $ 800 million, according to the agency.
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