This archive report was first published on 30 June 2020.
Kenya's northern town of Lodwar is facing an unprecedented locust infestation, with the insects stripping trees bare and threatening the region's food security.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the locusts exploded in numbers in East Africa and the Red Sea region in late 2019, exacerbated by atypical weather patterns amplified by climate change.
As the young locusts hatch in Turkana, Kenya's poorest region, they are eating everything in sight, with the potential to travel up to 130 kilometres in a day once their wings mature.
“The locusts have come to destabilise an already bad situation,” said Daniel Kirura, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Turkana.
Residents in Turkana are taking matters into their own hands, beating tin drums to scare away the insects, which have devastated farmland and grazing areas.
“These things that jump up and down came here two days ago and have eaten all the trees,” said Michael, near Turkana’s capital Lodwar.
“They have even finished grass for the goats,” he added.
Teams are working frantically to spray the locusts with insecticide before they become airborne, with the goal of controlling them before they leave Turkana.
“Within one week they may mature to swarms that may fly away,” Kirura warned.
“Our wish is to control them before they leave Turkana,” he added.
Published on June 30, 2020.
