A recent outbreak of locusts throughout eastern Africa is threatening the food chain that millions of people rely on daily.
As the world began understanding and reacting to the coronavirus pandemic, many countries in Africa were suffering at the hands of a different plague: locusts. In January, hundreds of millions of locusts swarmed areas of Kenya, leading to its worst outbreak in 70 years, while Somalia and Ethiopia haven’t had an outbreak of this size in a quarter-century.
At the time, a single swarm could contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer of farmland, which would be the equivalent of nearly 250 football fields.
However, the outbreak has since reignited amid rainfall last month, and the second wave of the insects is about 20 times the size of the first, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization previously called the locust outbreak “an unprecedented threat” to food security and livelihoods.
“The current situation in East Africa remains extremely alarming as … an increasing number of new swarms are forming in Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and Somalia,” a new FAO assessment said.
The U.N. previously requested $76 million for aid, but it has since upped the total to $153 million, explaining that immediate action is needed before more rainfall fuels further growth in locust numbers.
Aerial spraying is the only effective way to control the locust outbreak. However, the coronavirus has hampered the ability of African nations to import the necessary pesticides.
