Crop-eating locust population in the east 'could explode 400-fold'

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that the number of crop-eating locusts in east Africa could explode 400-fold by June 2020.

That would devastate harvests in a region with more than 19 million hungry people, the FAO has outlined.

According to an article published on Reuters last month, countries in east Africa are racing against time to prevent new swarms of locusts wreaking havoc with crops and livelihoods after the worst infestation in generations.

The publication outlined that “a lack of expertise in controlling the pests is not the only problem”.

It noted that Kenya temporarily ran out of pesticides, Ethiopia needs more planes and “Somalia and Yemen – torn by civil war – can’t guarantee exterminators’ safety”.

According to Reuters, locust swarms have been recorded in the region since biblical times.

However, it has been outlined that “unusual weather patterns – exacerbated by climate change – have created ideal conditions for insect numbers to surge”.

In Ethiopia, the Reuters article noted, locusts have reached the fertile Rift Valley farmland and stripped grazing grounds in Kenya and Somalia. It outlined that “swarms can travel up to 150km (93 miles) a day and contain between 40-80 million locusts per square kilometer”.

“The second wave is coming,” said Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s head of resilience for Eastern Africa. “As crops are planted, locusts will eat everything.”

A single square kilometre (km²) swarm can eat as much food in a day as 35,000 people.