Desert locust upsurge

FAO

Desert locust upsurge

Progress report on the response in Southwest Asia, May–December 2020

Year of publication 2021

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 18 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Booklet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) This progress report details the work carried out by FAO across the Southwest Asia to combat the unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods posed by the ongoing desert locust invasion. The report outlines the control measures taken so far as well as the longer-term reposnse planned for safeguarding the means of survival of millions of vulnerable people who could be affected by the pest, particularly with the compounding impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions this will likely incur for the Organization's humanitarian assistance.

Cite this content as:

FAO. 2021. Desert locust upsurge – Progress report on the response in Southwest Asia (May–December 2020). Rome.

Language English

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Although locusts are a type of grasshopper, they differ physiologically and in their behaviour. When environmental conditions allow, locusts multiply rapidly so that billions of them can aggregate and migrate vast distances devouring every growing green thing in their path. Plagues of locusts have occured for a long time and are even referenced in the Old Testament of the Bible. The magnitude of damage and crop loss that they can cause is enormous and beyond imagination. They have been the cause of starvation across continents in the past. The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) is the most widespread and destructive of all locust species. When they invade they can cover about 30 million square kilometres and can include all or parts of 64 countries in the northwest and east of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia, including Afghanistan, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan, among others.
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