Barnabas Fund, 7 April 2020
A local pastor called for prayer as he reported the arrival of a vast swarm of young desert locusts in north-eastern Uganda.
The immature locusts migrated in a dense swarm from Kenya, at the “worst possible time”, when farmers are planting new crops for a much needed harvest in a few months’ time. Severe food shortages are anticipated.
“Because these locusts are still young, they are much more dangerous than the previous ones. Their lifespan is still long and they have the capacity to eat and destroy anything that they come across,” the pastor warned.
With the country now battling to contain the coronavirus pandemic, it has been difficult for regional authorities to effectively track the movement of the locusts.
New swarms are now forming and representing an “unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods”, according to The Food Security Cluster (FSC).