Locusts cut food output in West African states

The Herald, 3 December, 1987 LATE rains as well as locusts and grasshoppers have reduced food output in the sub-Saharan belt of West Africa, but there is no danger of famine in the region, government officials and international organisations say.

The nine Sahelian countries’ food production will drop by 12 percent, compared with last year when several countries recorded better than average harvests, according to the inter-state committee against drought in the Sahel.

Their overall grain deficit is estimated at 1,7 million tonnes, but thanks to existing stocks and bilateral commercial agreements, they will only require 630 000 tonnes worth of food aid, officials of the nine-member regional grouping said.

They listed the most affected countries as Niger, with a deficit of 274 000 tonnes, Burkina Faso (158 000 tonnes); Chad (148 000 tonnes); Mauritania (49 000 tonnes) and Mali (14 000 tonnes).

But government officials in these countries said the situation was far from alarming and there was no fear of a repeat of the devastating drought of 1984, which caused widespread hunger and malnutrition.

Good harvests were forecast by the most western countries of the Sahel belt — Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

◆ Countries in the West Sahel region include: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

◆ These are the countries where swarms of locusts have for decades destroyed vegetation and crops. They eat everything: maize crop, sorghum and cowpeas.

◆ Currently, locust swarms first sighted in December 2019, are said to have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, the worst in seven decades.

◆ The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that millions of people will be food insecure due to the locust invasion. The FAO says it remains committed to safeguarding the food and nutrition security, and livelihoods of rural communities in the Sahel and neighbouring countries.

◆ While locusts are a menace in the Sahel region, in Southern Africa the armyworm and the destructive American moth called fall armyworm have destroyed thousands of hectares of food crops. It means the continent is not secure, and needs billions of dollars to be food secure, and do research and development to rid itself of these insects.

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