Swarms of desert locust invading East Africa, FAO warns

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has alerted that swarms of desert locust are migrating and reaching new parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.

According to the FAO, which says it is working to control and prevent a further upsurge of desert locust in Eastern Africa, it particularly cited the Horn of Africa, where immature swarms continue to migrate southwards from breeding areas in eastern Ethiopia and central Somalia to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

The report was given under the organisation’s Desert Locust Situation Update, on January 11.

The update highlighted that there were reports that a few immature swarms reached Mwanga district in northeast Tanzania on January 8.

“In Ethiopia, immature swarms are concentrating along the eastern side of the Harar Highlands in Oromia region as they move to southern areas of the country, including southern parts of the Rift Valley in SNNP region. There are also cross-border movements near Jijiga and northwest Somalia and along the southern border with Kenya,” FAO report reads.

“In Kenya, immature swarms continue to arrive and spread throughout the north. So far, swarms are present…