A combination of climate change and heavy rainfall this spring has caused a large number of grasshoppers in Africa. This horde has wiped out grain in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. All that remains is a trace of "destruction" that has never been experienced for generations.
Swarms of grasshoppers have rapidly expanded northward in recent months, crossing the Gulf of Oman and beginning to invade Iran, Pakistan and India. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has identified the triple suffering of grasshoppers, heavy rains, and a pandemic of a new coronavirus infection in these regions as an unprecedented threat to food security .
Eat food for 2,500 people in just one day
"Peasants are plagued by the triple threat of grasshopper damage, seasonal floods and heavy rains, and the constraints of the new coronavirus," says Lydia Zigomo of the international cooperation group Oxfam. Zigomo is the Regional Director for the Horn of Africa (the whole Somalia and part of Ethiopia), East and Central Africa. “Restricted movement between cities and towns makes it difficult to carry crops.”
You can tell from the diet that grasshoppers are a particularly horrifying pest. According to FAO, an average-sized herd of grasshoppers eats 2,500 foods in just one day.
"Sabacto locusts are quite an omnivorous food, because you eat anything you like," says Rick Overson, research coordinator at the Global Locust Initiative, Arizona State University. "However, cereals that are higher in carbohydrates than other foods are the most vulnerable to grasshoppers, which makes them the most vulnerable and the most economically damaging."
Human staple foods such as wheat, sorghum, millet such as millet and millet, and rice are all high-carbohydrate grains. If you eat a lot of these carbohydrates, grasshoppers will grow faster and march faster.
Even if the crops of farmers in East Africa survive the damage of grasshoppers, they can shed plants that have been left over by heavy rains that are exacerbated by climate change.
"What's further hurting farmers is the new coronavirus," says Zigomo. “In terms of the number of people infected, the damage in the region is not so great. Nevertheless, movement restrictions as a means of preventing the spread of infection have a negative impact on measures to control grasshoppers and on farmers' trade in crops. All of these simultaneous steps are creating the worst of them.”
Disinfection materials and knowledge transfer become difficult
If farmers do not go to the market to sell their crops, not only will their incomes fall sharply, but the inhabitants of the cities that rely on them will also starve. "In the coming weeks and months, 30 to 33 million people in East and Central Africa will fall into a serious food shortage," Zigomo said.
Lockdown (city blockade) as a countermeasure against the new coronavirus also complicated the battle with grasshoppers. Certainly, the request for refraining from going out during the early stages of a pandemic is indispensable in order to prevent the economic deterioration that would occur if the virus became more violent. However, close cooperation between FAO and governments and the seamless supply of goods are essential for the fight against locusts (damage of grasshoppers) in Africa.
"Unfortunately, the lockdown period coincided with the time when we were ordering large amounts of pesticides, spray equipment, aircraft, and flight staff. Naturally, supply was delayed," he said. FAO's East African resilience team leader, Cyril Ferrand says. For example, the delivery of pesticides to Kenya scheduled for mid-March was finally completed in June.
Fortunately, these pesticides and equipment supply chains are spread all over the world, so even if exports stop in one exporting country, the logistics never stop. However, delivery will be delayed during the pandemic. Staff may not be able to get pesticides, even if they have to get rid of them before they become too big to manage.
Further complicating matters, the government has lost knowledge of grasshopper measures. This is true for countries where grasshoppers have not been damaged for a long time. In such cases, organizations such as FAO usually dispatch experts to provide training, but this is not possible due to restrictions on mobility.
All of these timings were the worst. Due to the heavy rain of 18 years, grasshoppers entered the desert area of Oman. It was not possible to find larvae in the area, even with a widely deployed human-powered surveillance network. By February 20th, a second generation of grasshoppers began to grow and continued to grow until June, spreading throughout Africa. It's about time farmers grow their crops.
The pesticide spray staff were able to hold back some of the herds, but "we couldn't control them all," Ferrand said. "Many herds have escaped our surveillance system, grown up, breed, and create new grasshopper waves."
The waves will be particularly dangerous for pastoral areas approaching the end of the rainy season. "A flock of grasshoppers is feeding on many pastures, but after the end of June there will be no rain to rehabilitate the pastures," Ferrand says.
Crisis caused by triple suffering drives women
But the region is about to enter the monsoon season. This is alarming because grasshoppers need rain to breed, so female grasshoppers lay eggs in the sand, which will boil if the sand is not moist at this time.
If India and Pakistan are unable to control this pest, they will experience a cruel vicious cycle that plagues Africa. When it rains, grasshoppers breed, a new generation of grasshoppers is born and eats grain, and when it rains again it breeds again. It continues every year and falls into famine.
This would be catastrophic, even in normal times. However, when it overlaps with a pandemic, it becomes even more frightening.
As is the case with climate change in general, environmental disasters have a negative impact on the poor, exacerbating old-fashioned negative effects such as gender discrimination. For example, it is generally believed that the child's caretaker is a woman, but if the family is forced to live, it will be a particular burden on the woman.
“Crop depletion forces farmers and herders to travel farther. The process is particularly demanding for women,” said the Human Resource Organization's International Relief Committee (IRC) Economic Recovery Director. Senior Director Bali Shori says. "As resources have decreased, domestic violence has become more severe."
But this miserable time could offer the opportunity to fight inequality, Sholi said. For example, training to help women get more involved in the local economy.
“In addition to empowering women to participate in training programs, we should think about how they can change the norms, responsibilities, and behaviors of women at home,” Shawley asks. "When we face a serious crisis, how can we take advantage of it?"
In the coming months, the situation in Africa and India and Pakistan is expected to get worse. West African countries are also wary that grasshoppers will spread in the coming months.
Experts say the fight needs to strengthen the pesticide supply chain. In addition, a large amount of foreign assistance is also indispensable for the region where the shortage of supplies is becoming more serious. "Food shortages in this region are a serious problem," says Zigomo of Oxfam. "We need investment and humanitarian assistance."
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