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Massive locust swarms threaten catastrophe for African nations

(Worthy News) – The United Nations (UN) has warned that vast swarms of locusts are set on a “path of destruction” across Africa, affecting nations that had not seen the pest in decades. Locust controllers are concerned the pests will wipe out crops in a potentially “Biblical catastrophe,” leaving millions of people without food in some of the most vulnerable countries in the world.

It is reported that desert locusts have been arriving in parts of Africa in the largest numbers ever recorded. National Geographic has said swarms of this desert species can be made up of 40-80 million insects, 9News reports. Moreover, the UN estimates a swarm of 40 million of this species can eat the same amount of food as three million people can in one day.

Forecasters have been warning of a disaster since the beginning of the year, the Mirror reports. In January, the UN agricultural agency warned of the threat of a vast swarm descending on East Africa. In February, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) issued a joint warning that massive swarms of locusts were expected to arrive in Africa from Iran, Oman and the Horn of Africa.

Then, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported that efforts to manage locust swarms “on the verge of devastating crops in eastern Africa” were being hampered by coronavirus-linked flight restrictions that affected such things as the distribution of pesticides.  “If we fail in the current (regional) control operations, because of lack of pesticides, then we could see 4 million more people struggle to feed their families,” Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s head of resilience for Eastern Africa, told Reuters in April.

Forecasters have said warmer seas produced more cyclones in the Indian Ocean, which resulted in heavy rainfall on the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa and created a perfect locust breeding environment, the Mirror said.