- Title: Somalia hit by worst desert locust invasion in 25 years
- Date: 21st December 2019
- Summary: GALMUDUG, SOMALIA (DECEMBER 21, 2019) (REUTERS) LOCUST EATING BEAN PLANT VARIOUS OF CHILDREN STANDING IN OPEN FIELD WITH LOCUSTS FLYING AROUND VARIOUS OF JAMAD MOHAMED, FARMER, WALKING IN FIELD IN DHUSAMAREB OUTSKIRTS WITH LOCUSTS FLYING AROUND VARIOUS OF LOCUSTS ON GROUND MOHAMED TRYING TO SCARE LOCUSTS AWAY LOCUSTS ON PLANTS LOCUSTS FLYING IN OPEN FIELD LOCUSTS ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) FARMER, JAMAD MOHAMED, SAYING: "Locusts ate grassed-covered areas and we are fighting to save our farm in which we planted watermelon and beans and we are not able to protect them. We call for the Somali Government and the international community to help us." LOCUST IN GROUND VARIOUS OF JIROW QORDHERE, FARMER, SHAKING KETTLE TO SCARE LOCUSTS WITH NOISE (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) FARMER, JIROW QORDHERE, SAYING: "Locusts finished the whole areas, came to our farms and are eating our plants as you can see. Once they're done, we won't have anything to feed our children and we aren't even able to buy anything from the markets." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE TRYING TO SCARE LOCUSTS AWAY
- Embargoed: 4th January 2020 15:49
- Keywords: desert locust invasion locust plague locust swarm
- Location: GALMUDUG, SOMALIA
- City: GALMUDUG, SOMALIA
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAX4YFB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An invasion of desert locusts, which already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops and grazed land in Somalia in the worst invasion in 25 years, spread further on Saturday (December 21).
Somali farmers called on the government and the international community to help them protect their crops and land from the invasion, which is leaving many without food to feed their families.
"Locusts ate grassed-covered areas and we are fighting to save our farm in which we planted watermelon and beans and we are not able to protect them," said Jamad Mohamed, a farmer in Dhusamareb, in Galgadud the semi-autonomous region of Somalia.
The insects have already destroyed 70,000 hectares of land in Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia, threatening food supplies in both countries and the livelihoods of farming communities, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Wednesday (December 18) calling the invasion the worst in 70 years.
The locust plague is far more serious than the FAO earlier projected and has been made worse by unseasonably heavy rainfall and floods across East Africa that have killed hundreds of people in the past several months.
Experts say climate shocks are largely responsible for rapidly changing weather patterns in the region.
(Production: Abdirahman Hussein, Okwi Okoh, Chiara Rodriquez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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