The second wave of locusts threatening the East African region poses no immediate threat to Rwanda, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said. This follows the agency’s warning three weeks ago that the second-generation swarm is even bigger and more threatening than the initial invasion that struck in February this year. The locusts present an extremely alarming and unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods according to the UN. However, according to Keith Cressman, the FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer based in at the organisation’s headquarters in Rome, Rwanda is not exposed to any looming threat. “I do not see any threat that is alarming for Rwanda,” he said, “Locusts are producing a new cycle on swarms in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia; however conditions remain similar to last year, nothing alarming for Rwanda.” The development is known as the second generation of the pests, meaning the first swarm reproduced. This second generation is younger and more aggressive than the first, experts have warned. According to FAO, left unchecked, locusts swarms normally multiply by a factor of 20 per generation. Practically, that means there are probably trillions of locusts in the current swarm. It is also estimated that this swarm is ‘400’ times stronger than the first. The organisation has also warned that it will be too late to stop the locusts from spreading in less than six months, which would threaten millions with starvation. Thus far, the winds have kept the swarm in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, which contains lots of open land unused by farmers. But with tens of millions in the region already dependent on food aid, this could turn into a humanitarian crisis quickly. “The current situation in East Africa remains extremely alarming as more swarms form and mature in northern and central Kenya and southern Ethiopia. This represents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods because it coincides with the early beginning of the long rains and the current growing season,” warns desert locust situation update report by FAO released on April 28. Recently, regional countries including Kenya and Uganda have experienced the second invasion, and officials have expressed concerns that the coronavirus has slowed down efforts to fight the infestation, while the closure of borders makes pesticide deliveries harder. An average swarm will destroy crops that could feed 2,500 people for a year, FAO said. A desert locust swarm can be 460 square miles in size and pack between 40 and 80 million insects into less than half a square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size would eat 423 million pounds of plants every day.
