Accra, Ghana, January 28, 2020//-The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Office for Africa has assured that countries in the West African sub-region are not threatened by the dreaded desert locust swarms which hit some East African countries.
The Deputy Regional Representative of FAO Africa, Ms Jocelyn Brown Hall told journalists in Accra, Ghana today that the locust swarms are not imminently threat to the 16 countries of the West African sub-region.
Ms Hall flanked by the Crop Production and Protection Officer at the FAO Regional Offic for Africa, Prof Jean Baptiste Bahama, disclosed that her office is in close contacts with the East African countries namely Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya which are affected by the locust invasion.
“We are taking the locust invasion in those East African countries very serious”, she stated at the press conference at FAO Regional Office for Africa located in Accra, Ghana.
Although the desert locust swarms are not harmful to human beings, their horrendous effects to food security in the affected countries are very bad to ignore.
Ms Hall who is also the FAO boss for Ghana therefore warned that food insecurity caused by the locust invasion and other factors in that part of Africa could worsen hunger and conflicts.
It has been reported that East African countries affected by the desert locust invasion require $70 million to tackle the attack that is threatening food security and livelihoods.
It is projected that containing the swarms could take more than six months.
The United Nations announced on Thursday that it had released $10 million for aerial pesticide spraying in response to what has been described as the worst locust outbreak to hit East Africa in decades.
The Crop Production and Protection Officer at the FAO Regional Office for Africa, Prof Jean Baptiste Bahama said: “It is the worst of its kind in 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia, and the worst Kenya has seen in 70 years”.
He was quick to add that crops are being wiped out in communities that were already facing food shortages in the affected countries.
10 counties in Kenya have been hit by the locusts, while in Uganda; the government has activated surveillance and rapid respond measures and established a $1.35 million contingency fund to support the efforts.
Control measures
Prof Bahama said the locusts could be controlled by bio-insecticides which are less threatened to humans.
He noted that; “the locust swarms can only be controlled when they are small. But when they are large groups they can’t be controlled”.
According to the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group, the East African region is already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity, with over 19 million people affected.
Under a worst-case scenario, where the current locust upsurge is not quickly contained and becomes a plague by the next cropping season of March to July, significant crop and pasture losses would cause food insecurity in affected areas to worsen, experts warned.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
