UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Locust Outbreak Response in East Africa OCHA

The Horn of Africa has been hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years, posing a threat to food security to the population in East Africa that is already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today (Friday). In order to scale up the response to the devastating desert locust outbreak in East Africa, OCHA’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released $10 million.

Speaking today to the media at the United Nations in Geneva, OCHA’s spokesperson Jens Laerke said that “the $10 million allocation from CERF will go to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and fund an increase in pesticide aerial spraying operations which, given the scale of the current swarms, is the only effective means to reduce the locust numbers.”

Irregular weather and climate conditions in 2019, including heavy rains between October and December, are suspected to have contributed to the spread of locusts in the region.

“The desert locust is among the most dangerous migratory pests in the world. A single locust can travel 150km and eat its own weight in food – about two grams – each day”,Mr. Laerke said. He added that “a small swarm can consume the equivalent of food for 35,000 people in one day. They reproduce rapidly and, if left unchecked, their current numbers could grow 500 times by June”.

Laerke stressed that “we are trying to address the situation before it becomes extremely bad”.

Major locust outbreaks can be devastating as seen in previous outbreaks which had resulted in major harvest losses.

The outbreak is exacerbating the impacts of climate change already being felt in this region.

In Ethiopia, where floods had already affected the harvest, the locust infestation has destroyed hundreds of square kilometres of vegetation in the Amhara and Tigray regions.

Kenya was hit by back-to-back droughts and then floods in 2019. During the past week a significant and extremely dangerous increase in swarm activity has been seen.

In Somalia, tens of thousands of hectares of land have been affected in Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug (Mudug), and mature swarms are present in the Garbahare area, near the Kenyan border.

“It’s an outbreak that is covering East Africa, the Horn of Africa. It has also been noted in Southwest Asia and the Red Sea, is the worst of its kind in 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia – and it is also the worst Kenya has seen for 70 years”, resumed OCHA’s spokesperson. “The impacts in these countries are particularly acute as pastures and crops are being wiped out in communities that were already facing food shortages”.

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Locust Outbreak Response in East Africa OCHA

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