Swarms of locusts declared national emergency in Somalia
● Planes spray affected areas ● Outbreak is worst in 70 years
Swarms of billions of locusts have descended on parts of Kenya in what has been declared the country’s worst outbreak in 70 years - while in Somalia the outbreak was labelled a national emergency.
Small planes are flying low over affected areas to spray pesticides in what experts believe is the only effective way to control the swarms, which are destroying vital crops and raising the prospect of a severe famine in the region.
Just five planes are currently spraying however, as Kenyan and other authorities try to stop the locusts from spreading to neighbouring Uganda and South Sudan.
The United Nations has said $76 million is needed immediately to widen such efforts across East Africa and prevent a disaster.
Marcus Dunn, a pilot and the director at Farmland Aviation which is carrying out the difficult job of spraying pesticides, warned that if there is an increase in locusts in other parts of the country “we are going to need some more assistance, because we just don’t know how big this problem is going to be.”
A fast response is crucial. As well as devastating crops the locusts are breeding, and experts warn that if left unchecked, their numbers could grow 500 times by June, when drier weather will help bring the outbreak under control.
The finger-length locusts swept into Kenya from Somalia and Ethiopia after unusually heavy rains in recent months, decimating crops in some areas and threatening millions of vulnerable people with a hunger crisis.
Somalia’s agriculture ministry on Sunday called the outbreak a national emergency and major threat to the country’s fragile food security, saying the “uncommonly large” locust swarms are consuming huge amounts of crops.
In swarms the size of major cities, the locusts also have affected parts of Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea, whose agriculture ministry says both the military and general public have been deployed to combat them.
Kenya’s agriculture minister has acknowledged that authorities weren’t prepared for the scope of the infestation this year.
It has been decades since the country’s last comparable outbreak, UN officials say.
There is concern the locusts are heading toward the breadbasket of Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, in that nation’s worst outbreak in 25 years. On Thursday, startled residents of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, started reported sightings.
“I was surprised to find the locusts inside my living room,” said one resident, Mathewos Girma, showing a photo on his mobile phone. “It appears it is knocking on each and every one of our doors.”
Zebdewos Selato, an agriculture ministry official, said the relatively few locusts reaching Ethiopia’s capital are “leftovers” from the “massive invasion” in the eastern and southern parts of the country. Spraying is being conducted around the city to stop the outbreak from spreading, he said.
Until the drier weather in June, more rain across the region will bring fresh vegetation to fuel further waves of locust breeding. One field in Kenya on Saturday appeared to be full of mating bright yellow locusts.
“They are trying to mate and reproduce, so we need more help and because we are racing against time,” said Salat Tutana, the chief agriculture officer in Isiolo county.
“So far we have decimated around five swarms in Samburu and Isiolo [counties] but we keep on receiving more swarms every week, and that is a lot in terms of the ecosystem,” he said. “They are destroying the environment.”
Within hours, the locusts can strip a pasture of much of its vegetation. “That’s a very sad situation, especially for the people whose livelihoods rely on their cattle, Tutana said