Desert locusts are ravaging the Horn of Africa. A swarm the size of Manhattan can eat the same amount of food in a single day as everyone in New York and California combined, says one U.N. officer. 'These things are voracious.'
Experts know how to stop the locusts' spread, but say efforts have been stymied by a lack of resources and because its difficult to spray in conflict-racked places such as Somalia and Yemen.
In mid-2018, a group of these pests found themselves in excellent conditions when a cyclone from the Indian Ocean hit an extremely remote area of the Arabian Peninsula known as the"Empty Quarter." Typically, the Empty Quarter would dry out and the population would largely die off. But in late 2018, another cyclone hit in nearly the same spot and the population exploded yet again. Over the next three months, Cressman says, the insects started to migrate – some farther up on the Arabian Peninsula, and some into nearby Yemen. From there, they eventually traveled across the gulf and into Ethiopia and Somalia.
As locusts descend by the billions on parts of Kenya in the worst outbreak in 70 years, small planes are flying over infested areas and spraying pesticides — which experts say is the only effective control.Security issues complicate efforts to stave off the infestations, particularly in parts of Somalia."You can't work in places that aren't safe. You don't want to endanger people's lives," he says.
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