UN warns of ‘major shock’ as Africa locust outbreak spreads

Uganda is scrambling to respond to the arrival of the biggest locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in decades.

An emergency government meeting hours after the locusts were spotted inside Uganda on Sunday decided to deploy military forces to help with ground-based pesticide spraying, while two planes for aerial spraying will arrive as soon as possible, a statement said.

Aerial spraying is considered the only effective control.

The swarms of billions of locusts have been destroying crops in Kenya, which has not seen such an outbreak in 70 years, as well as Somalia and Ethiopia, which have not seen this in a quarter of a century.

The United Nations warned that “we simply cannot afford another major shock” to an already vulnerable region.

The insects have exploited favourable wet conditions after unusually heavy rains, and experts say climate change is expected to bring more of the same.

UN officials warn that immediate action is needed before more rainfall in the weeks ahead brings fresh vegetation to feed new generations of locusts.

If left unchecked, their numbers could grow up to 500 times before drier weather arrives, they say.

“There is the risk of a catastrophe,” UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told a briefing in New York, warning that a region where 12 million people already face severe food insecurity cannot afford another jolt.

Without enough aerial spraying to stop the swarms, the locust outbreak could turn into a plague, “and when you have a plague, it takes years to control”, Dominique Burgeon, emergency and resilience director with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, said last week.