Food shortages for 13 million amid African locust plague

World Vision’s Silvio Dorati says an estimated “13 million people are now facing food shortages for the coming months” due to a mass number of locusts plaguing east Africa. The locust plague is the largest experienced in 70 years and there are fears it will spread right through the continent. Mr Dorati told Sky News “one square kilometre of locusts counts for approximately 150 million individuals and in a day they could destroy the equivalent of what 35,000 people could eat in the same time”. “So far they have destroyed 400,000 hectares“ and have eaten “all the crops,” he said. They are impacting “the income of farmers, and as a result, they are losing the ability to pay for services such as health and education”. Mr Dorati said “the governments are making some efforts, particularly with aerial spraying of pesticides“ and “World Vision is participating in an inter-agency meeting in Ethiopia called by the Food and Agriculture Organisation“. I