Sudan: Desert Locusts Worsen Food Insecurity
Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed
The UN has warned that food will become even more scarce in the coming months as Sudan enters the lean season.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cautioned earlier in Geneva that the damage caused by desert locusts in the country has worsened significantly since the middle of last year.
FAO Deputy Representative in Sudan Adam Yao warned that the pest problem had reached a “threatening level”, and without sustained efforts to control the invasion, significant agricultural losses are inevitable.
This is due in part to the absence of surveillance and control operations in central and western Sudan resulting from the ongoing war between Government forces and the rival RSF militia, which has plunged the country into crisis.
Nonetheless, locust control officers supported by the FAO have managed to survey more than 113,500 hectares and control around 23,000 hectares of land already infested.
Mr. Yao said FAO was working together with the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, to secure immediate access to Wad Madani to ensure seed collections under threat can be moved to a safer location.
“An estimated 18 million people are food insecure – that’s 10 million more than last year,” the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday,
Aid agencies have managed to deliver lifesaving assistance to seven million people in Sudan since last April.
