Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent.
Swarms of desert locusts that have already razed pastures and croplands across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya continue to spread throughout East Africa, jeopardizing the food security of up to 20 million people. Just a small swarm of the insects can eat as much food as 35,000 people daily.
The swarms, which can contain as many as 80 million adult locusts and travel up to 80 miles each day, have now moved south and west into Tanzania, Uganda and war-torn South Sudan, while also pushing further into the Horn of Africa. Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya remain at the epicenter of this crisis, though, despite weeks of aerial pesticide spraying.