This archive report was first published on 13 May 2020.
Published on May 13, 2020, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that a second wave of desert locusts is expected to hit East Africa in June.
According to the report, treated lands are now relatively free from the voracious pest, but the first wave of swarms has reproduced, and a second wave of locusts will transition from juveniles to young adults in June.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu noted that the locusts could increase 20 times during the current rainy season, with drier weather after the rainy season potentially pushing swarms west and north into the Sahel region.
"We may need over two years to tame this enemy,” FAO team leader Cyrill Ferand said. “We’re in the middle of the fight.”
As per the report, a typical swarm can be made up of 150 million locusts per square kilometer, with even a small swarm capable of eating the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people.
The FAO intends to ask its partners for approximately $110 million to fight the swarms, which are expected to move to the Sahel and Pakistan.
Kenya Red Cross, in partnership with FAO-Kenya, has launched an assessment plan to determine the impact of the locusts on the environment and livelihoods.
