A new unprecedented attack is set in Africa

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A new unprecedented attack is set in Africa

The magnitude of the disaster is truly biblical

 

 

 

 

North Africa is threatened with unprecedented outrage. In Kenya swarms of grasshoppers are the largest of at least 70 years. Hundreds of millions of insects literally blind the locals.

The magnitude of the disaster is truly biblical. Although the insects do not cause direct harm to humans, they destroy any vegetation, including pastures and agricultural crops.

The outrage is so great that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has described it as an "unprecedented threat" to food security and livelihoods for the Horn of Africa.

Grasshoppers began gathering last June in Eastern Ethiopia and Northern Somalia.

At the same time, 2019 was one of the wettest years in East Africa, and the warm temperatures and heavy rainfall created the perfect environment for insect breeding. Now in Ethiopia grasshoppers are so many that they literally cover the sky.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the destructive potential of this scourge is unprecedented.

Even a small swarm of grasshoppers can eat a day's crop enough to feed 35,000 people.

And the region has been experiencing food problems for years. About 700,000 decares have already been destroyed in Kenya. The locust plague is expected to continue until at least June this year.

Moreover, the disaster is mounting as the weather in the region, where the rainy season is currently, remains warm and humid.

Swarms are able to travel up to 150 kilometers per day. And under suitable conditions, such as the present, the number of insects in a relatively short time can increase about 500 times.

Constantly alert for fresh food and warm, rainy conditions, some swarms have already migrated to Iran, Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The Food and Agriculture Organization said the only way to curb the scourge is to spray with insecticides from the air. The UN has already allocated $ 10 million for this purpose, but at least $ 70 million is needed.

"This devastating locust of grasshoppers is beginning to destroy vegetation in East Africa with alarming speed and ferocity," commented UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock.