Friday, June 26, 2020

A second wave of locusts is already decimating the farms of Eastern Africa

It's now about two-and-a-half months since I was commiserating with countries in Eastern Africa that were dealing with a major infestation of locusts was well as COVID-19.
Well, two-and-a-half months later, Africa's worst fears are starting to come to pass, and a second, larger wave of locusts may be coming. Local scientist are still trying to battle the problem, with innovations like the eLocust cellphone app, and government-run pesticide sprayings (supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization).
But it is increasingly looking like their efforts may be too little, too late, and another generation of locusts has already hatched, and is already hard at work decimating the crops of the hard-pressed subsistence farmers of the region. And their cries for help are almost certainly going to get lost amid the pandemic crisis.

UPDATE
The locust swarms have even spread from east Africa across to the Indian subcontinent, and are now being seen ravaging cross in the Delhi area. Locusts are an increasingly common problem in India, and some experts are blaming climate change for the change.

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