In the worst desert locust outbreak in decades, tens of billions of locusts are moving across East Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula, devouring crops and potentially leaving millions of people without enough food to survive. Vast locust swarm outbreak in 70 years in East Africa could put almost 5 million people in the region at risk of hunger and famine, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). It comes as many of the countries in the region are already struggling to manage food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fourth generation of locust eggs is now hatching; which experts predict will create a locust population 8,000 times larger than the current infestation. This coincides with the start of the harvest season and will be compounded by the COVID-19 emergency.

During the last six months, the number of locusts has increased 400 times. The locusts are a species of grasshopper. The IRC notes that the locust infestation, which first arrived in East Africa last June, is feeding on hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops spanning at least eight countries. “The Desert Locust is the world’s most dangerous migratory pest. A one-square-kilometre [0.39 square mile] locust swarm is capable of consuming the same amount of food in one day as approximately 35,000 people,” said Barri Shorey, senior director of Economic Recovery for the IRC.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has already warned that the pandemic has left some of the world’s most vulnerable communities facing ‘a crisis within a crisis,’ as it disrupts supply chains and hammers the economy, exacerbating the global hunger problem. Now locusts are destroying crops that could have been a lifeline. Like the coronavirus pandemic, the locust swarm, if left unaddressed, could spread exponentially, bringing significant health risks, impacting economies, affecting livelihoods, and worsening hunger for the millions of people in the impacted regions. Locust swarms are primarily controlled by spraying concentrated chemicals by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers. In addition to controlling the spread of locusts, funding is needed to support the livelihoods of those impacted. Left uncontrolled, the locust plagues that develop can take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring under control, according to the FAO.