A desert locust swarm flies in Kipsing, Kenya, in March 2020.Sven Torfinn / FAO
NBC: A plague amid a pandemic: East Africa, West Asia combat surging locust outbreak
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 450 billion pests have been killed since January, but the battle against the massive, crop-destroying swarms is far from over.
When the skies darkened suddenly over Michael Gatiba's 10-acre farm in Nakuru County, Kenya, what came pouring down stunned him: millions of desert locusts.
"It was like a storm," Gatiba, 45, said by telephone. "It was like hail. They covered everywhere. Even there was no sun."
That was three months ago. Although Gatiba said he was lucky that the damage from the insects was minimal, he fears that the outbreak that has plagued swaths of Africa, the Middle East and Asia for the past two years will return to ravage his maize and bean crops.
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WNU Editor: I have been told by some readers in east Africa that the videos do not do justice to how incredible these swarms really are.
