Two months ago, East Africa was plagued with desert locusts. Now a second swarm estimated to be 20 times worst than the first wave is threatening food supplies and livelihoods across North and central Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
The first swarm saw more than 25 million hectares of farmland in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia destroyed, according to Bloomberg Opinion.
Locus Watch updates of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations reported two months of consecutive rainfall have contributed to the threat of the locusts.
‘Widespread rains fell in East Africa for the second consecutive month in April. Although control operations are reducing locust populations, another generation of breeding will cause locust numbers to increase further as new hopper bands and swarms form in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia during May and June.
‘Swarms are expected to move further north in Ethiopia and Somalia with a risk that a few swarms may reach Eritrea and Sudan in mid-June.’
With regards to the first wave of locusts, FAO said: ‘It is the worst outbreak of Desert Locusts seen in the region for decades. Tens of thousands of hectares of croplands and pasture have been damaged in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia with potentially severe consequences in a region where 11.9 million people are already food insecure.’
These pests are extremely destructive. ‘A swarm of one square kilometre can eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people,’ said FAO.
‘The current situation and forecast are alarming as locust infestations are expected to extend to other areas in the Horn of Africa and southwest Asia.’
Desert locusts at Barsalinga in Samburu County. Video by David Chancellor pic.twitter.com/mtaH02QKy2
— Kenya Pics (@kenyapics) May 5, 2020
Kenya is facing what has been dubbed a ‘trilemma’. The COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya, has as of 4 May, over 400 confirmed cases.
The country is facing a food shortage in light of the first locust wave and the threat of the second. Parts of the country have also been devastated by ongoing floods after the Nzoia River burst its banks.
The floods have claimed over 100 lives according to Sky News. These have also contributed to the food shortage as crops have been ruined.
Image: Twitter/ IRC Africa
