If the crisis had been tackled earlier in the year it would have cost $9 million. Now the price tag is estimated at more than $100 million. “In six months’ time it could be much more.”
The problem is potentially the most serious locust plague Africa has seen for 15 years, and the warning comes from Keith Cressman, locust forecasting officer at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
This week, the first swarms began gathering in Mauritania at the western end of the Sahara. Hundreds more are expected to form next week in neighbouring Mali and Niger.
“That’s when they become a bigger problem,…
