355 Lexington Ave, 16th Floor New York, NY, 10017, 332 South Michigan Avenue, 9th floor Chicago, IL 60604, 10586 W. Pico Blvd., #139 Los Angeles, CA 90064, Concern works with tens of thousands of farming and pastoralist families across the region and our teams are working to support them through the crisis. Notable recent infestations include the outbreaks of 2003-05 in West Africa, 2013 in Madagascar, 2015 in Russia, 2016 in Argentina and 2019 in the Italian islands of Sardinia. This in a time, where COVID-19 already puts pressure on food systems in countries where economies are highly dependent on agriculture. An integrated strategy is needed that invests in and incorporates all available tools in the toolbox, from better forecasting and monitoring technologies to the controlled spraying of chemical and biological crop protection products. The locust plague devastated Lawrence Mwagire's crops. ... Top Gazette stories of 2020 From COVID to racial reckoning, caffeine to life along the Charles. This area provides news, videos and publications, as well as overviews of social media channels and mobile apps of the Bayer Group. Beneficial insects like honey bees, lady bugs and monarch butterflies are beneficial to our ecosystem by pollinating (bees and monarchs) or being predatory (lady bugs) by eating harmful insects. Even in the best of times farmers in the affected regions lack access to the latest technology and training to produce a healthy harvest. Locust swarms have invaded Russia's southern regions causing colossal damage to the local agriculture. Meanwhile in Somalia, rural communities already struggling to cope following unusually heavy rains and flash floods in the second half of 2019 are especially vulnerable now to the effect of the massive locust swarms. Crop Science has businesses in seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. Published on 14/02/2020, 6:00am. This apocalyptic image is not a bad dream, but the current reality: A worldwide locust upsurge is hitting countries around the globe with East Africa and the Horn of Africa seeing the worst outbreak in decades – destroying hectares of farmland and putting millions at risk of hunger and famine. Dr. Holger Kray, World Bank Practice Manager for Agriculture and Food Security, elaborates on the awareness issue: “If the world was not unfortunately distracted by the horrific COVID-19 situation, the locust situation would be all over the media; because it is overwhelming, it is a horrific situation”. Conflict, climate disaster, chronic poverty. The largest plague in U.S. history was recorded in 1875 when a swarm of trillions of the now extinct “Rocky Mountain Locusts” measuring 1,800 miles long and 110 miles wide flew over the Midwest. The Great Locust Plague of 2020 By Todd Strandberg. FAO recently said in an alarming news release: âNew locust swarms are already forming and threatening to re-invade northern Kenya and breeding is also underway on both sides of the Red Sea, posing a new threat to Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and Yemen.â Give now to help transform lives. Plagues of locusts are recorded as early as the Pharaonic times of ancient Egypt with perhaps the most famous reference in the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus. And experts warn that it could get much worse. The current locust crisis shows that crop protection and innovations in agriculture have been—and will continue to be—crucial to help ensure food security, global prosperity and a sustainable future. Locust plague warning: New Delhi on high alert as swarm nears A video shared by Italian broadcaster TG3 showed the full extent of the damage, with ⦠The U.N. it has the potential âto be the most devastating plague of locusts in any of our living memories." Fri 20 Mar 2020 03.00 EDT. 3, 2020 StarTribune. Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia are most vulnerable, as millions of families have been struggling to cope with an ongoing food crisis, caused by prolonged drought. Locust plague risk map 2020. Learn more about Bayer and the opportunities available. ... With that, the likelihood of further locust outbreaks grows. But how do we get ahead of potential outbreaks? “Millions of locusts are eating all vegetation in their path including food crops that are absolutely crucial for survival here,”. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, farmers in some of the world’s most impoverished regions are fighting to stop locusts from decimating vital crops and grazing pastures and leaving vast populations food insecure. The plague will encompass all the land â and will eventually spread to the whole world. “It only takes 30 seconds for a swarm to eat an entire field.”. Locusts rest on a tree in Quetta, Pakistan, on June 12, 2020. Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. The year 2020 has been such a disaster, it will likely take some time to figure out what made it such a train wreck. With our distinctive knowledge of people, animals and plants, we focus on the areas of health care and nutrition. Forecast for locust swarm spread from March to June 2020. Credit: FAO Locust Watch (UPDATE: On 14 April, the FAO Locust Watch released a further statement saying that âwidespread rainsâ¦in late March are expected to cause a dramatic increase in locust numbers in East Africa, eastern Yemen and southern Iran in the coming monthsâ. Jean sees the insecticides as “essential for crop protection so that we are able to have adequate crop for sale to the market. 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