- Title: Somali herdsman fears the worst after locust invasion
- Date: 23rd December 2019
- Summary: DUSAMAREB, SOMALIA (DECEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAR DRIVING THROUGH LOCUSTS VARIOUS OF SHRUBS THAT HAVE HAD THEIR LEAVES EATEN BY LOCUSTS VARIOUS OF ABDULAH HASSAN, HERDSMAN, TRYING TO DRIVE AWAY LOCUSTS IN A FIELD VARIOUS OF LOCUSTS CRAWLING ON THE GROUND MORE OF HASSAN TRYING TO DRIVE LOCUSTS AWAY LOCUSTS CLINGING TO STEMS OF A BUSH VARIOUS OF HASSAN TALKING ON A MOBILE PHONE LOCUSTS ON THE GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDULAH HASSAN, HERDSMAN, SAYING: "The locusts have destroyed all of our grazing land and I am very worried that my livestock will starve and die because these locusts are everywhere and are taking over the whole area." VARIOUS OF HASSAN'S GOATS GRAZING VARIOUS OF LOCUSTS ON A CACTUS PLANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDULAH HASSAN, HERDSMAN, SAYING: "We are willing to trying on our own and would spend whatever we have to fight back against the locusts. We are not getting any help from the federal government or aid agencies. But we can't fight them because their numbers are huge and they are uncontrollable. VARIOUS OF LOCUSTS ON AND AROUND SHRUBBERY
- Embargoed: 6th January 2020 14:53
- Keywords: desert locust invasion locust plague locust swarm
- Location: DUSAMAREB, SOMALIA
- City: DUSAMAREB, SOMALIA
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB75TNB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Abdulah Hassan is a worried man. He has nine children to feed and relies on his herd of 100 goats to do so.
But 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, has now spread to Dusamareb, where Hassan currently lives.
"The locusts have destroyed all of our grazing land and I am very worried that my livestock will starve and die because these locusts are everywhere and are taking over the whole area," he told Reuters.
Somali herdsmen and 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.
"We are willing to trying on our own and would spend whatever we have to fight back against the locusts. We are not getting any help from the federal government or aid agencies. But we can't fight them because their numbers are huge and they are uncontrollable," Hassan added.
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 last week, 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.
(Abdirahman Hussein, Okwi Okoh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
