The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has warned that new swarms of desert locusts will threaten West Africa in June.
The FAO said in a study that locusts in the desert will start breeding in Ethiopia , Kenya, Somalia , Sudan and West Africa.
“In the coming months, Desert Locusts will continue breeding in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. New swarms will form in June and migrate to the Sudan through South Sudan and pose a risk to the Sahel in West Africa,” it said.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Director-General, QU Dongyu, has cautioned that it will take time to monitor desert locusts.
He noted in this article that heightened concern for Sahel and Southwest Asia is contributing to the pressure of ongoing efforts in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
The swarms are the result of heavy rainfall and cyclones over the past two years, providing the ideal setting for fast breeding.
Desert locusts are the most destructive of all species of locust, known for speedy growth and massive appetites.
In Kenya a swarm has been recorded containing an estimated 200 billion locusts. Each insect in the food can eat its own weight – that is about as much food as 84 million people a day.
In East Africa the insects have already killed hundreds and thousands of hectares of crops.
The UN FAO fears in the study that the numbers could rise 500 times by June and hit 30 different countries.
Mr Dongyu was joined by UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, partners, and other interested parties to lift his appeal for locust to $311.6 million according to the survey.
“Our gains have been significant, but the battle is long and is spreading to new areas,” Mr Dongyu said. “It is clear that we cannot declare victory yet. Upsurges of this magnitude are rarely defeated in a few months.”
Mr Dongyu welcomed the creation of a $500 million program by the World Bank Group to help countries in Africa and the Middle East tackle the impact of locusts.
He has called for further support from other donors and partners.
Despite the control operations, recent heavy rains in several countries have produced ideal conditions for reproducing the pest.
Young juveniles will become voracious adults in June just as farmers begin to harvest, compounding an increasingly dire food security situation.
“The locusts, combined with the impacts of COVID-19, could have catastrophic consequences on livelihoods and food security,” Mr Dongyu emphasized.
Forecasts from the latest Global Food Crisis Report revealed that in 2020, more than 25 million people will face acute hunger in Eastern Africa, and an additional 17 million in Yemen.
The pandemic, COVID-19 is likely to further weaken food security.
In January, FAO rapidly assisted governments in stepping up control operations, and is launching an urgent appeal to help ten countries to curb the upsurge and expect catastrophic impacts on livelihoods and food security.
According to figures, by avoiding the spread of the locusts and damage to several more hectares, about 720,000 tons of cereal have been saved so far – enough to feed five million people a year.
This also saved the livelihoods of another 350 000 pastoral households.
Mr Dongyu emphasized that it was not only the short-term that mattered but medium and long-term steps to assist governments and regional authorities in building capacity to predict, plan and avoid potential outbreaks.
There is also increased danger along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border, where outbreaks are still occurring in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan.
