A serious and widespread desert locust outbreak is destroying crops and pasture across East African countries, said Intergovernmental Authorities on Development of IGAD in a statement on Wednesday.
IGAD explained that Ethiopia and Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Kenya would have a high risk of further spread in the absence of immediate and significant increase in control.
It noted that ‘there is a risk that some swarms could appear in northeast Uganda, southeast South Sudan and southwest Ethiopia’.
UN Food and Agricultural Organization or FAO said this is the worst situation in 25 years and unusual weather and climate conditions have contributed to it, including heavy and widespread rains since October 2019.
A further increase in locust swarms is likely to continue until about June due to the continuation of favourable ecological conditions for locust breeding, it added.
‘IGAD calls on its Member States, the East African Community and partners to pull resources together to prevent, control and possibly eradicate the desert locust threat to the food security of the region’, said Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD’s Executive-Secretary.
He added that ‘prevention and control measures must be scaled up to contain further spread of the desert locust’. ‘Countries must act urgently to avoid a food security crisis in the region’.
Dr David Phiri warned that the locust is worsening the bad food security situation, exacerbating the dire food insecurity and malnutrition in the sub-region.
He added that ‘the weather seems favourable for the locust breeding with high probability that the locust will continue to breed until March-April 2020, if no longer’.