Ahmed Ibrahim Banish the desert grasshopper who stormed his farm in Jigjiga, Ethiopia. Her khat farm became a source of income for her family to survive.
“I don’t have anything else to sell on the market. How do I feed my eight children? “he said desperately when interviewed last January 17. His voice increased to compensate for the Grasshopper’s buzz. Meanwhile, his children expelled the pest by modelled with a cloth and a cane.
The Grasshopper invaded Ibrahim’s no-broader fields. Some of his asses seemed restless, while the chops were scrambing to eat the remaining grass.
However, Ibrahim was not alone. The desert Grasshopper invaded East Africa territory.
These pests are the worst in the last 25 years. East Africa’s food safety is now increasingly threatened. During this time East Africa heavy face severe risk of weather and conflict.
“This pest raid represents a major threat to food security in Kenya and throughout the Horn region of Africa, which has been chastened by floods and droughts,” said Bukar Tijani, assistant Director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The invasion of these pests, he said, was widespread and unexpected.
Originally, the invasion of grasshoppers spread from Ethiopia and Somalia. Grasshopper then migrated to Eastern and southern Kenya region. According to the FAO, the pest breeding is still ongoing on both sides of the Red Sea, a number of regions in Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Djibouti, and Yemen.
The Grasshopper is flying as if fulfilling the sky. From afar, the grasshopper is like a dark cloud hanging in the sky.
Grasshopper is the size of an adult finger. Millions of these animals fly and come to the fields. Nobody is able to drive them away. In an invasion in Kenya, the grasshopper reportedly filled the sky, which is 60 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide.
“The hordes of this type of desert locust can consist of 150 million tails per square kilometer,” said Intergovernmental Authority on Development. “The mob migrates with the wind and can fill the air for 100 to 150 kilometers per day. These raids usually can destroy the fields per day and destroy food that can suffice the needs of 2,500 people. ”
This plague of grasshopper pests can destroy many people’s lives. When it occurred on 2003 and 2005, its appearance was estimated at 500 million US dollars. The fund was used to handle pests in 20 North African countries. According to the FAO, the losses reached approximately 2.5 billion US dollars.
To prevent a wider spread, governments are now using satellite imagery, increasing pesticide supplies, and spraying anti-pests from the air. In Ethiopia, their institution developed four special planes to combat the invasion of this desert locust.
However, one method in Kenya instead turned backfired for the government. It was then that their agricultural minister asked the citizens to use their social media to upload photos of animals suspected as grasshoppers or nzige in Swahili.
As a result, the call was responded to the candation. There were residents who posted photos of boars, cats, and other animals accompanied by requests for the Government to identify the animal. Finally, the government cancelled the call.