UN seeks urgent aid to stop African locust crisis from becoming full-scale plague

Although the global community has responded to a United Nations appeal to help west and northwest African countries fight the current locust crisis, the situation remains dramatic and more international aid is urgently needed to prevent a full-scale plague, the UN Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) warned today.

Aircraft, pesticides, vehicles, sprayers, monitoring capacity and technical support to battle the crop-devouring insects are lacking in all affected countries and millions of people could be threatened by famine, the Rome-based agency said.

"Additional donor support is urgently needed for targeted aerial and ground spraying and for environmental monitoring," it added.

So far, of the $100 million needed to control the current locust upsurge $32 million from the international community has been approved or is in the pipeline and a

further $5 million has been provided from FAO's own resources.

The worst affected country is currently Mauritania, with large areas of locust infestations requiring control. The situation is also deteriorating in Mali and Niger. Locust swarms have also been reported in Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad and Senegal, while there are unconfirmed reports from northwestern Nigeria and a moderate risk that swarms will also reach Darfur, Sudan Ð the scene of a massive humanitarian crisis.

FAO warned that the situation could further deteriorate in the next few weeks with new swarms starting to form in September, seriously threatening crops that will be ready for harvest in the affected countries.

"The main effort should be now to protect as much as possible of the next harvest, which is crucial for the food security situation of millions of people in the region," it said.

The current infestation is potentially worse than the last plague of 1987-89, which cost the international community $300 million, especially since it is occurring at a time of seed planting instead of harvesting.