Ethiopia Battles Locusts, Famine, COVID-19

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a report upgrading the locust infestation threat for East Africa to “very critical” on October 26, 2020. The swarms of locusts, which have plagued the region since January 2019, show no signs of stopping amid the rapidly changing climate. 

Ethiopia has been one of the countries most affected by the locusts. There, the insects destroyed more than 420,000 hectares of land, exacerbating the threat of famine. Due to the devastation of large areas of cropland, the FAO designated this outbreak as the worst in the past 25 years. 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared, “One of the biggest challenges we have experienced over the past months in addition to COVID-19 pandemic has been the desert locust swarm, which affected the Eastern African region greatly, including Ethiopia.” 

Although the Ethiopian government has tried to mitigate the locusts’ effects by using crop dusters and helicopters, their efforts have proven fruitless—the swarms have recently migrated into the neighboring countries of Kenya and Sudan. The Ethiopian government faces a critical shortage of much-needed supplies. The government has struggled to obtain spraying aircraft and vehicles, with their current fleet consisting of one singular aircraft.

This most recent outbreak is expected to cause nearly $8.5 billion in damages to crops and farmland. However, funding and aid are unlikely to persist for much longer, as the COVID-19 pandemic has cut supply lines and made the distribution of pesticides difficult. As a result, many are predicting a prolongation of the outbreak. 

“Infestation will continue into 2021. We are being reinvaded and the swarms will then go to Kenya,” said Fatouma Seid, the FAO’s Ethiopia representative.

A new generation of breeding has begun in Ethiopia and Somalia, and by mid-December, this new swarm will traverse through Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.

The East African governments have started to prepare by stockpiling supplies; however, the primary breeding ground lies in war-torn Yemen, making complete eradication of the pest impossible.