East Africans are now using an early warning tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to help farmers fight off locusts that have devastated crops and communities across the past year. The new tool from Selina Wamucii, a platform that connects farmers and markets across Africa, is called Kuzi, the Swahili…
In Mali, it’s the security crisis that’s contributing to the population’s hunger. In Kenya, a combination of floods and the ongoing fight against desert locusts are driving food insecurity, while Zimbabwe continues to struggle with high food prices in an uncertain economy. All told there are 34 African nations that…
Another locust outbreak is threatening southern Africa, this time with the potential to affect some 7 million people in four more countries. Botswana has seen smallholder farmers lose entire crops, with the growing region of Pandamatenga and its key sorghum crops at risk as the country seeks to step up…
The European Union has committed €15 million to the fight against desert locusts, which have devastated crops in East Africa. It’s the worst outbreak in decades, and a new generation of locusts is now threatening the region with the potential to spread beyond the Horn of Africa and Yemen, into…
New swarms of locusts are coming from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners continue to fight back against crop destruction in a part of the world where it is least afforded. The FAO said Friday it was…
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is sending $10 million to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help combat a devastating locust infestation in East Africa and Horn nations. “The locust invasion is the worst Kenya has seen in 70 years, and the worst in nearly a…
The locust swarms wreaking havoc in the Horn of Africa have now spread across the Arabian Peninsula and into Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the southwest coast of Iran, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). They’re also affecting Red Sea nations, as well as those already hardest…
The desert locust swarms that have devastated crops on the Horn of Africa are rapidly multiplying in affected countries and likely to spread into other nations, according to an update from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partner agencies. FAO says swarms are the worst…
UNOCHA, the United Nations humanitarian agency, has released US$10 million to support an emergency response to the desert locust outbreak in East Africa – the worst Kenya has seen since 1950, and the worst for parts of the Horn of Africa in 25 years. The impacts in affected Red Sea…
The desert locust outbreak in Somalia is far worse than anticipated, with significant crop damage in the eastern regions and threats to another 100,000 hectares expected over the next six months. That’s according to an update Wednesday from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which said it…
The threat of crop-destroying locust swarms remains for the Horn of Africa and some North African nations, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and its new Early Warning Early Action report. The United Nations agency has been monitoring the threat following “unprecedented spring breeding” that happened earlier this…
Horn of Africa nations continue their battles with a desert locust outbreak that is affecting the Red Sea region, where February rains have promoted a second generation of the insect breeding that began in December. New swarms are expected to form at the end of the month. “Once vegetation begins…