Kenya braces for return of devastating locust swarms

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Swarms of the crop-destroying desert locusts are reappearing across East Africa, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has warned

Locust swarms first soared in number in late 2019, as a result of unusual weather patterns amplified by climate change. They dispersed eastwards from Yemen leaving Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia hardest hit.

“In Kenya, several immature swarms are arriving every day and spreading west throughout northern and central areas,” the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement. “Swarms have now been seen in seven counties ... compared to four last week. A few swarms are starting to mature.”One farmer in Marsabit in northern Kenya tried to chase a swarm of locusts from his land by banging a stick against a jerry can, causing clouds of insects to swarm around him as they briefly flew off from his crops.

“He was trying to chase them... we helped him, but it was too much,” Ilias Iman Abdulkadir, a senior project officer at Catholic Relief Services based in Marsabit, told Reuters.“The first wave just passed around the town, but this one actually came within the town, almost everyone came to see, people were very much scared,” he said.

 

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Bring them in...

This has been happening for months across the continent! Farmers must be distraught.

Is this 2020 on rewind?

luizalmeida40 i believe a food shortage will be coming next.

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