(2 minutes read)
· The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
cautioned a major food shortage in East Africa, as desert locusts
entered the Democratic Republic of Congo
· Locusts also have also been sighted in Djibouti, Eritrea and
Tanzania and recently reached impoverished South Sudan.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cautioned
a major food shortage in East Africa, as desert locusts entered the
Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the Central African country’s
gravest locust threat since 1944, when the swarms of locusts marauded
the country, causing severe food shortages.
www.trendsnafrica.com has reported recently about the locusts menace
in countries like Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. Locusts also have also
been sighted in Djibouti, Eritrea and Tanzania and recently reached
impoverished South Sudan.
A joint statement from FAO and World Food Program (WEF) referred to
the swarms of locusts as a scourge of biblical proportions. Some of
the countries in the region had not seen such a menace for the last 75
years or so. Locust swarms can be as big as the size of major cities.
They have the potential to destroy crops spread over thousands of
hectares of land.
The governments in the region are rolling out plans to counter the
attack. For instance, Uganda’s government was trying to contain a
large swarm of locusts and requisitioned for more resources to
control the infestation that has spread to over 20 districts in the
north. Soldiers have been deployed with hand pumps to spray water to
keep off the locusts, while aerial spray pumps are the most effective
solutions to get rid of the menace. Significantly, the UN has raised
its aid from US $76 million to US$138 million, almost doubling the aid
and that too the fund is being released at the earliest.
Experts opine that climate change might have contributed to this
outbreak as the warming Indian Ocean generates powerful tropical
cyclones hitting the region. Desert locusts have a short reproduction
cycle of three months and mature swarms are laying eggs in vast areas
of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. In weeks, the next generation of
locusts takes to wings.
