The Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that Somalia will face another round desert locust attack.
UN agency has said immature swarms of the crop-eating insects are slowly forming as a result of breeding in Somalia’s northeast, with hopper bands persisting near the coast.
“More swarms are expected to form this month in both areas and disperse along the northern plateau, drifting west toward Aysha district in eastern Ethiopia,” the FAO said in a recent statement. “While swarms arriving from Ethiopia and Somalia have declined, the highly mobile swarms present in Kenya are often seen many times, leading to multiple reports of the same swarm.”
According to the FAO update, immature swarms persist in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, including southern areas of the Rift Valley.
In Kenya, numerous small immature swarms persist in northern and central counties.
“Intensive ground and aerial control operations continue to make good progress in reducing the number of swarms in Kenya and Ethiopia, especially in the absence of significant rains that are required for maturation and breeding,” the UN agency said.
