Archbishops plea for help in face of locust swarms

From Church of England Newspaper:

ANGLICAN Archbishops and Bishops across Africa and Pakistan are uniting with Barnabas Fund and calling for donations after ravenous locust swarms, originating in Oman, swept across East Africa, with a devastating impact, as well as spreading east to Iran and now Pakistan.

Thousands of Kenyan Christians facing food shortages in the badly hit Pokot region have just sent an urgent call. Uganda is also badly hit. Lord Carey, Archbishops Stanley Ntagali (former Archbishop of Uganda), Stephen Kaziimba (Uganda), Jackson Ole Sapit (Kenya), Masimango Katanda (Congo), Laurent Mbanda, (Rwanda) and Benjamin Kwashi (Jos, Nigeria) have issued an appeal.

The UN is warning of a “significant and extremely dangerous” upsurge in the breeding activity of desert locusts in East Africa, especially in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, where the imminent second hatch of locusts is threatening the food security of millions.

Crucial maize crops due to be harvested in March and April, and other staple food crops, are at risk as governments battle to contain a second wave of the insects and protect critical agricultural regions from infestation. In Uganda, the government has warned the country to prepare for impending double disaster as unusually heavy seasonal rains are expected.

A Christian leader explained to Barnabas that the severe rains will increase the risks of a locust plague.

“Locusts are going to have soft ground under which breeding is going to triple. As locusts increase, the danger towards destruction of both food and pasture will also triple. If there are no measures to mitigate the awaited calamity, people’s lives will get destroyed by hunger,” he warned…

Keith Cressman, Senior Locust Forecasting Officer with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (pictured), said the agency is seeking $76 million to scale-up aerial spraying against the “voracious” locusts and protect livelihoods.

Read here

See also: As coronavirus disease sweeps the world, a plague of locusts is devastating crops in Asia and Africa, from Barnabas Fund: More news and details on how to donate through their Project Joseph.