Somalilandsun: FAO has handed over 6 vehicles equipped with vehicle-mounted sprayers and backpacks to the Somaliland’s minister of Agricultural Development amid in a bit to fight the grown desert locust invasion in Somaliland regions, FOA Somalia said.
Funded by USAID Somalia, the equipped vehicles are expected to increase “Capacities to tackle the growing upsurge of the Desert Locust in Somaliland, According to Food and Agricultural Organization Somalia office.
It is the worst outbreak of Desert Locusts seen in the region for decades. Tens of thousands of hectares of croplands and pasture have been damaged in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia with potentially severe consequences in a region where 11.9 million people are already food insecure.
The potential for destruction is enormous. A locust swarm of one square kilometre can eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.
In Southern and Central Somalia, desert locust would likely damage large farmland areas during the Gu’ season, which is the biggest rainy season in the country and would likely make millions to starve.
– Horn Observer –
