Desert locusts that migrated from Yemen had reached parts of Afar, Somali, Oromia and Amhara regions and Dire Dawa by August 2019, an Ethiopian locust-control official told Ezega.
Desert locusts in Kenya during the 2020 upsurge in the Horn of Africa, photographed on February 17, 2020. (Edleony / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0) [file photo]
“In our field assessment, we have found adult locusts which migrated from Yemen,” Zebdios Selato, director of the institute Ezega named as the East African Desert Locust Prevention and Controlling Institute, told the news site on Aug. 21, 2019. He was among the experts sent to the affected areas.
The locusts crossed into Afar from Somaliland on June 23 but did not spread at first because of dry conditions, Zebdios said. Wet weather and green vegetation then created favorable conditions for them to multiply, and the swarms were spreading to new areas.
The adult locusts had not yet damaged crops, he said, but they were highly likely to breed during the rainy season, so strict monitoring and early control were needed. A desert locust can fly up to 150 kilometers a day with the wind.
The Ministry of Agriculture had agreed with the regional desert locust organization to carry out aerial pesticide spraying along the border with Somaliland, Zebdios said. The ministry had reportedly allocated about 19 million birr to fight desert locusts and other pests, Ezega said.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) later described the upsurge as the worst to strike Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years.
A joint assessment by the Ethiopian Gov’t, FAO and aid agencies, published in April 2020, estimated that the locusts damaged about 200,000 hectares of cropland and destroyed more than 356,000 metric tons of cereals. About one million people needed emergency food assistance as a result, FAO said, including 390,000 in Somali region and 360,000 in Oromia and Dire Dawa combined.
Sources: Ezega (Aug. 21, 2019), FAO: appeal on the Horn of Africa Desert Locust upsurge, FAO Ethiopia: “Desert Locusts drive one million to food insecurity” (April 13, 2020)