Renewed support from Canada to battle desert locusts in East Africa

FAO thanks the Canadian government for consistent backing of efforts to contain the desert locust upsurge

FAO thanks the government of Canada for their additional contribution to help tackle the infestations of crop- and pasture-devouring desert locusts in East Africa.

In early 2020, as it became clear the upsurge in East Africa was unprecedented in its size and destructive potential, Canada was one of the first donors to respond.

Canada’s new top up brings the country’s total contribution to the effort to contain desert locust and soften the upsurge’s food security impacts to around USD 1.5 million. Canada’s un-earmarked funding allows FAO to respond rapidly and flexibly to address emerging and urgent needs.

The outbreak in East Africa is the worst to strike Ethiopia and Somalia for 25 years – for Kenya, in 70 years. With FAO’s support, nearly half a trillion locusts are estimated to have been killed in the Horn of Africa and Yemen in control operations since January and one million tonnes of crops – enough to feed nearly 7 million people – have been spared from devastation.

Despite the success of control operations spanning 500 000 ha, heavy rains during this spring season created ideal conditions for reproduction and the potential destruction caused by the new-generation swarms which could still provoke a humanitarian crisis as new swarms strike Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

Funding has also been received from the Governments of Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, the African Development Bank, the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Union, the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Bank Group