Some say that this level of plagues affecting the African continent can only be described as biblical. As the Eastern countries of the Motherland are fighting off the novel Coronavirus with the rest of the world, they are also fighting off swarms of desert locusts, with some swarms that have grown to three times the size of New York City.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that “unprecedented” desert locust swarms would hit Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, three countries hit hard by the viral pandemic.
The UN predicts that the breeding conditions for the locusts may cause their multiplication to increase by 400%, destroying the crops in a region that is adamantly dependent on its agriculture.
A combination of trade and production shocks resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, as well as the economic and medical challenges of trying to combat the pandemic itself, will likely compound these problems.
Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan have all reported cases of the virus and have begun to implement restrictions on travel and social gatherings, hoping to flatten the curve before it can overwhelm their already handicapped healthcare systems.
