East Africa hit by severe desert locust outbreak

THE most serious outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

Unusual climate conditions are partly to blame.

Roughly the length of a finger, the insects fly together by the millions and are devouring crops.

An “extremely dangerous increase” in locust swarm activity has been reported by officials in Kenya this week.

One swarm measured 37 miles long by 25 miles wide in the north-east of the country, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said in a statement.

“A typical desert locust swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometre,” it said.

“Swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 100 to 150 kilometres in a day. An average swarm can destroy as much food crops in a day as is sufficient to feed 2500 people.”

The outbreak of desert locusts, considered the most dangerous locust species, has also affected parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.

The IGAD warned that parts of South Sudan and Uganda could be next.

The outbreak is making the region’s bad food security situation worse, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed.

The further increase in locust swarms could last until June as favourable breeding conditions continue, the IGAD said, helped along by unusually heavy flooding in parts of the region in recent weeks.