Locusts, Covid-19 and deadly flooding pose a “triple threat” to millions of people across East Africa, officials have warned.
The warning came as the World Bank announced a 500 million dollar programme for countries affected by the historic desert locust swarms.
A new and larger generation of the voracious insects, numbering in the billions, is on the move in East Africa, where some countries have not seen such an outbreak in 70 years. Climate change is in part to blame.
The added threat of Covid-19 imperils a region that already was home to about 20% of the world’s population of food-insecure people, including millions in South Sudan and Somalia.
Lockdowns imposed for the Covid-19 pandemic have slowed efforts to combat the locusts, especially imports of the pesticides needed for aerial spraying that is considered the only effective control.
“We’re not in a plague, but if there are good rains in the summer and unsuccessful control operations, we could be in a plague by the end of this year,” said Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Now there is a risk that the locusts could make their way in the coming months into West Africa’s sprawling and arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert, he said. Chad, Niger and Mauritania could be affected — another burden for a region under growing threat from extremist attacks.
The FAO is preparing to increase its appeal for aid as the livelihoods of millions of people across Ethiopia, Kenya and elsewhere are at stake, including farmers and herders.
The number of locusts continues to grow despite the control efforts, and if that work is not sustained, the combined threat with Covid-19 and flooding “could have a catastrophic effect”, said FAO director-general Qu Dongyu.
The FAO in its latest assessment says the situation in parts of East Africa remains “extremely alarming” because new swarms will form from mid-June onwards, coinciding with the start of the harvest season for many farmers.
The recent floods in parts of East Africa have killed nearly 300 people and displaced 500,000, slowing locust control work and increasing the risk of the virus’ spread, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“We are facing an unusually complex humanitarian situation,” said Simon Missiri, the group’s Africa director.
