Multinational - East and Horn of Africa Desert Locust Crisis: Emergency assistance to fight the desert locust invasion in 9 regional member countries

The present intervention concerns the emergency assistance to fight the desert locust invasion in nine (09) regional member countries, namely Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. The proposed Bank emergency assistance is to contribute to the alleviation of the suffering of the victims of the desert locust in these regions. Indeed, the East and Horn of Africa, which is one of the most fragile regions of the continent, is being ravaged by large locust swarms coming from the Arabian Peninsula. The desert locust infestation occurring in the region poses an unprecedented risk to livelihoods and food security in an already fragile region in that it causes huge damages on agricultural production. Studies have shown that a swarm of one square kilometer can devour the equivalent of crops that could feed 35,000 people for a year (FAO). The situation is particularly alarming in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia where widespread breeding is ongoing and new swarms are expected to form in the coming weeks. The emergency relief assistance operation will be funded through a grant from the Bank’s SRF. The total grant amount is for one million five hundred thousand US dollars (USD 1,500,000). The immediate priority should be to first control the spread of the current invasion and eliminate the current threat, therefore the grant funds will specifically contribute to the regional desert locust invasion control effort, prevention of next generation swarms and impact assessment and monitoring for enhanced preparedness and awareness creation.