The desert locust disaster in many countries in East Africa has lasted for several months, and a new wave of more serious locust disaster is brewing. The spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia worldwide has also restricted the ability of loco countries to resist locust disaster. Serious locust disaster is posing an unprecedented threat to food security and farmers' livelihood in the region. FAO calls on the international community to strengthen cooperation and response to avoid humanitarian crisis.

On April 14, the Ethiopian government released an assessment report jointly completed with the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other agencies, saying that the serious locust disaster has destroyed about 200000 hectares of farmland in Ethiopia, causing grain losses of more than 356000 tons, affecting as many as 1.3 million hectares of pasture, and nearly 1 million people in need of emergency food aid, posing a huge threat to Ethiopia's economy and people's livelihood. At the same time, many countries in East Africa are facing the threat of locust disaster, and the situation of disaster prevention and control is not optimistic.

Increasing regional food security

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says East Africa is the worst hit area of the desert locust disaster. A new wave of locusts formed in March and April will further aggravate the disasters in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Since December last year, the worst locust disaster in 25 years has broken out in East Africa, with hundreds of billions of desert locusts raging in many countries. Governments in East Africa have taken urgent measures to contain the spread of the disaster, but a new wave of more serious locust disaster is coming because of the large-scale rainfall brought by the rainy season in March. According to the desert locust Information Office of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, with the emergence of new swarms in early April, locust disasters in East Africa have worsened. In the future, locust swarms are expected to enter South Sudan and Uganda from Kenya, and the number of locusts is estimated to increase 20 times in a few months.

At present, locusts have invaded more than 20 counties in Kenya. Experts estimate that the locust disaster has destroyed at least 30% of pastures in Kenya. According to the analysis of the climate prediction and Application Center in Nairobi, Kenya, locust swarms are attacking with an unprecedented large number. The locust swarms contain young adults who are just mature and eat more than ordinary adults. According to the Ministry of agriculture of Ethiopia, there are about 6 million people living in the locust infested areas in Ethiopia. Locust larvae are developing rapidly in their main food producing areas, and locust swarms are emerging in places that have never been found before.

Desert locusts are considered to be one of the most destructive migration pests. They prefer barley, beans, corn and other crops and grass plants. They can fly about 150 kilometers with the wind every day. The daily food consumption of locusts with a scale of 1 square kilometer is equivalent to that of 35000 people.

Generally, agricultural output value accounts for about 1 / 3 of the GDP of East African countries. Except for Kenya, agriculture creates more than 65% of the jobs in East African countries. As the most important planting and harvesting season in East Africa is between March and may, the emergence of a new group of locusts may have serious consequences for local agriculture. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that nearly 20 million people in the affected countries of East Africa have already faced serious food security problems, and if the locust disaster cannot be effectively contained, it may aggravate the regional humanitarian disaster.

The situation of locust eradication is more complicated by the epidemic situation

East African governments are urgently mobilizing resources to kill locusts. Ethiopia's Ministry of Agriculture said recently that it is deploying six helicopters to fight against the plague, which may last until late August. Kenya has trained 30 technical extension personnel in charge of locust disaster monitoring, assigned them to county training and guidance of field work teams, and the government has applied for an emergency loan of KSHS 150 million (about US $1.42 million) from the African Development Bank for locust eradication and food security. Uganda has also sent more than 2000 soldiers to participate in the locust eradication operation, with an additional $4 million in disaster relief funds.

However, the novel coronavirus pneumonia that has been rampaging around the world poses new challenges to locusts in East African countries. Cyril felander, head of the FAO's fight against locusts in East Africa, said the biggest challenge now is how to guarantee the supply of pesticides and sprayers. The outbreak has led to a sharp reduction in global cargo flights and delayed the transportation of anti disaster materials. The pesticides ordered from abroad in Somalia took three weeks to arrive, while some equipment could not be delivered to East African countries. The Ministry of agriculture of Kenya, Uganda and other countries said that many countries closed their borders due to the epidemic, making the procurement of disaster relief materials more difficult.

Locust eradication has also stalled due to the epidemic. Novel coronavirus pneumonia was reported to have been launched by the Ministry of agriculture in Kenya in late January of this year, but was suspended after the first confirmed case of new crown pneumonia was reported in late March. In order to avoid gathering and personnel flow, the training of relevant locust disaster monitoring personnel was stopped, and the movement of locust disaster investigators was restricted. The novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, which is part of the NKC Economic Research Institute of Oxford economic group, recently reported that the situation of loco plague was more complicated. The interruption of trade caused by the epidemic would aggravate regional food insecurity and economic impact.

In the face of the challenge, Flemish called on the affected countries to make locust eradication a "national priority" and not slow down the fight against locust disasters. FAO suggested that in order to cope with the restrictions on the movement of people, countries could strengthen remote data collection through networks of grass-roots organizations, using hand-held devices and applications.

The international community urgently needs to cooperate in response

Since the end of last year, severe locust disasters have swept over more than 20 countries and regions around the world, affecting more than 16 million square kilometers. Experts pointed out that in the past 18 months, due to the abnormal cyclonic activities in the Indian Ocean, a large amount of rainfall has been brought to West Asia and East Africa, and the humid environment formed in the arid or semi-arid areas has created ideal conditions for locust reproduction. At present, climate and rain conditions on both sides of the Red Sea and the horn of Africa are still favorable for locust population reproduction. Another cause of locust disaster is that in order to reclaim farmland in some parts of Africa, the original vegetation has been destroyed, resulting in the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment and further contributing to locust disaster.

This year's second wave of locusts is exactly the result of the first wave of locusts laying eggs. Ambrose engeditic, a project official at the UN's food and Agriculture Organization, said grasshoppers can bury their eggs deep underground, making it difficult to stop the hatching of a new generation of larvae by spraying insecticides. At present, locust disasters occur in a very wide area. When trying to control them in one area, new locust swarms will appear in another area. "Different areas have different stages of locust growth, which makes the disaster difficult to control.". Scientists are working with the meteorological monitoring department to track the growth cycle and migration mode of locusts by analyzing the data of soil moisture and vegetation distribution observed by satellites, so as to provide decision-making basis for countries to resist disasters.

In addition to African countries, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and Pakistan are also threatened by locust disasters. In northern Aden, Yemen, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, there are developing swarms of locusts. Spring sowing is currently underway in Iran, with new swarms of locusts already spreading on an expanding scale along the southern coast of the previous wave of locusts.

FAO launched a US $76 million fund-raising plan in January this year to help African countries resist locust attacks. Currently, the amount needed has increased to US $153 million, with us $111 million pledged or credited, from 11 governments including China and multiple international donors such as the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund. In addition, FAO is supporting 10 locust affected countries in disaster monitoring and air and ground spraying. Since January this year, chemical or biological insecticides have been sprayed on 240000 hectares of land, and 740 professionals have been trained in ground locust control. Experts pointed out that the plague of locusts has brought severe challenges to the food security and economic development of countries in the region. It is urgent for the international community to take effective measures to cope with the locust disaster and avoid the humanitarian crisis.

Source: People's daily