Via The Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York writes: Second wave of locusts causing havoc in East Africa. Excerpt:
As a second generation of desert locusts expands into massive swarms in East Africa, there are growing fears that the next wave could jeopardize a crucial harvest in June and July in a region already suffering from widespread hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first generation of locusts invaded East Africa at the end of 2019, causing devastation across several countries in January and February. They bred, and a second generation has now hatched and begun aggressively spreading, while a third wave is expected in June and July.
Each generation of locusts can produce swarms up to 20 times bigger than the previous one. This means the current second generation will contain trillions, potentially destroying up to 5 million square kilometres of farmland.
A single locust can travel 150 kilometres in a day, eating its own weight in maize and other crops. A small swarm of 40 to 80 million can cover a square kilometre, consuming as much food as 35,000 people in a day.
Larger swarms of billions of locusts have already covered hundreds of square kilometres in Kenya, consuming as much food as 90 million people.
“The current situation in East Africa remains extremely alarming as more swarms form and mature in northern and central Kenya and southern Ethiopia,” the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in its latest assessment this week.
The locusts have also inflicted damage in Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan. In some East African countries, it has been the worst locust outbreak in 70 years. Because swarms like these have not been seen in decades, some governments lack the experience and expertise to tackle the crisis fully.
The FAO appealed in January for US$70-million to fight the locusts, then later increased it to US$153-million. It expects to increase the appeal again to a new target of more than US$200-million.
Heavy rains and flooding in late March have boosted the breeding and hatching of the second generation of locusts, the FAO says.
“The risk is that they will form new locusts in June and July, which would coincide with the harvest season, which would pose a real risk to food production in the region,” Dominique Burgeon, the FAO director of emergencies, said in a briefing on Wednesday for the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
