Locust outbreak threatens more countries in eastern Africa

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation warns of potential for massive devastation

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  A desert locust feeds on an Acacia tree in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  Desert locusts feed on an Acacia tree as a plane sprays pesticides, in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  A plane spraying pesticides flies over a swarm of desert locusts in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  A desert locust feeds on a plant in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  Desert locusts jump up from the ground and fly away as a cameraman walks past, in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  Ranger Gabriel Lesoipa is surrounded by desert locusts as he and a ground team relay the coordinates of the swarm to a plane spraying pesticides, in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  Desert locusts feed on plants in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  Marcus Dunn, pilot and director at Farmland Aviation, speaks with Salat Tutana, left, the chief agriculture officer in Isiolo county, at an airstrip near Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. AP Photo

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  A plane conducting the aerial spraying of pesticides flies over a swarm of desert locusts in Lemasulani village, Samburu County, Kenya. Reuters

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  A plane conducting the aerial spraying of pesticides, flies over a swarm of desert locusts in Lemasulani village, Samburu County, Kenya. Reuters

Swarms of desert locusts could ravage more countries in eastern Africa and threaten the livelihood of many more people, the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organisation said on Monday.

The swarms, first sighted in December, have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, threatening food supplies in the worst locust invasion in 70 years.

"There also other countries at risk, especially South Sudan, Uganda, Eritrea...," said Bukar Tijani, assistant director general of the agency's agriculture and consumer protection department.

The agency said at least one locust swarm had already been seen in Eritrea, and several had also been sighted in Oman and Yemen.

Even before the locust invasion, some 11 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya were experiencing food insecurity, and the swarms will worsen the situation, the agency said.

"Therefore, we need to make all possible efforts to avoid such a deterioration," said Dominique Burgeon, director of the agency's Emergencies and Rehabilitation Division, during a visit to Samburu and Kitui counties, two of 15 affected regions in Kenya.

"We know that these locusts ... can create massive devastation, not only in terms of crops but also in terms of pasture and therefore affecting the livelihoods of the pastoralist communities ... The only solution that works is aerial spraying [of pesticides]."

Conflict and chaos in much of Somalia make spraying pesticide by plane – which the agency calls the "ideal control measure" – impossible, the agency said in December.

Somalia's agriculture and irrigation ministry said it had declared the locust invasion a national emergency.

Esther Kithuka, a farmer in Mwingi in eastern Kenya's Kitui County, said she was worried the locusts would destroy their crops, and that another planting season due to start in April would be too short for any meaningful production.

"We depend a lot on this season and we worry that the locusts will destroy our harvest and we will end up remaining hungry through the rest of the year waiting for October for the next cropping season," she said.