Desert Locust Crisis APRIL 30, 2021

Fact Sheet #4 Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 East Africa – Desert Locust Crisis APRIL 30, 2021 SITUATION AT A GLANCE 4 3.3 23 4.5 $38.8 MILLION MILLION MILLION MILLION Number of Locust-Affected People Estimated Acutely Estimated Acres of FAO 2021 Regional Countries Affected Likely to Require Food-Insecure Land Treated for Appeal Extension in East Africa1 Emergency Assistance Population2 Locusts in Ethiopia, for Response in Kenya, and Somalia East Africa FAO – December 2020 FAO – December 2020 IPC – February 2021 FAO – March 2021 FAO – December 2020 Locust populations continue to decline across East Africa as a result of sustained control operations and limited breeding opportunities due to below-average rainfall. Small infestations persist in central and eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. Projected below-average summer rains and continued control operations will limit locust breeding and reduce the size of locust infestations in East Africa, possibly leading to the end of the upsurge in East Africa by late 2021. USAID/BHA-supported response efforts have treated more than 4.9 million acres of infested land in East Africa and Yemen since January 2020, protecting the food security of nearly 34 million people. TOTAL USAID HUMANITARIAN FUNDING USAID/BHA3 $34,501,567 For the East Africa Desert Locust Crisis Response in FYs 2020–2021 USAID/Uganda $379,862 For complete funding breakdown with partners, see detailed chart on page 5 Total $34,881,429 1 Figure includes East African countries included in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s revised regional response plan as of late December: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan. 2 Figure reflects combined estimates of populations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan currently experiencing Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 3—Crisis—or higher levels of acute food insecurity. The IPC is a multi-partner initiative that developed a standardized scale to classify the severity and magnitude of food insecurity. The IPC scale, which is comparable across countries and time, ranges from Minimal—IPC 1—to Famine—IPC 5—for acute food insecurity. 3 USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) funding includes non-food humanitarian assistance from the former Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. 1 KEY DEVELOPMENTS Locust Infestations Continue to Decline Across East Africa Desert locust populations in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia continued to decline between March and April, as limited rainfall delayed locust maturation and breeding and provided response actors additional opportunities to locate and treat immature swarms, according to FAO. Dwindling swarm numbers and smaller swarm sizes have also resulted in a reduced scale of control operations; response actors treated approximately 3,800 acres of infested land across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia during the thirteenth week of 2021, representing a 98 percent decrease in the coverage of control operations compared with the nearly 195,000 acres treated during the fourth week of 2021. While an increase in control operations against maturing swarms in Ethiopia led to a marginal increase in the total area treated in late April, decreasing locust populations are providing fewer targets for response actors. Limited control operations continued against a few remaining immature swarms in Kenya’s Nakuru and Samburu counties in late March and early April, though at a much slower pace compared to operations during January and February. The small size and close proximity of swarms to local communities limited aerial control operations and necessitated greater reliance on ground control teams, according to response actors. Moreover, swarms began to mature in Samburu following moderate rainfall in mid- April. However, as of late April, FAO and its partners had treated all identified swarms in Kenya and reported no additional swarms in the country. To the south, no new swarms have been reported in Tanzania since early April. In Ethiopia, control operations remain ongoing against swarms near the Bale Mountains in Oromia Region and near Somali Region’s Jijiga city, where locusts have matured in recent weeks, following rainfall in early and mid-April. Response actors continue to report the absence of locust populations in southern Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) regions. The desert locust situation has improved in Somalia in recent weeks, according to FAO. Immature swarms migrated southwest from Bari in northeastern Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland Region onto Puntland’s interior plateau near Garowe town in early April, FAO reports. While the swarms were originally projected to continue moving southwest toward Ethiopia over the latter half of the month, response actors treated several small swarms around Garowe in mid-April and reported only one remaining swarm near the town in late April. Nevertheless, infestations in Ethiopia’s Somali Region continue to present a potential cross-border threat to Somalia. In addition, insecurity continues to hamper response actor access in parts of Puntland and along Puntland’s border with neighboring semi- autonomous Somaliland Region. Response Actors Prepare to Control New Generation of Locust s The onset of rainfall in northern Kenya and central and southern Ethiopia in early and mid-April renewed vegetation growth, resulted in the maturation of locust swarms, and prompted breeding activity in Kenya and Ethiopia in recent days. Egg-laying is likely ongoing, and FAO anticipates that a new generation of locusts will likely hatch in May, with hopper bands—large groups of immature, wingless locusts—forming in the coming weeks. Scattered swarms may begin to form in eastern Ethiopia in late June, subsequently shifting north toward northern Ethiopia’s Afar Region. As response actors begin to shift their focus to locating and treating hopper bands in Ethiopia and Kenya during May, the importance of ground surveillance and control teams will increase, as aerial response assets often have difficulty spotting and treating hopper bands. Moreover, FAO notes that recent, 2 successful control operations against immature swarms, which have greatly reduced the size and concentration of the next locust generation, will result in greater challenges for the ground surveillance teams attempting to locate hopper bands. Teams will need to rapidly scour vast areas while searching for comparatively small locust populations scattered throughout central and eastern Ethiopia. FAO continues to work with the Government of Ethiopia and other partners to develop local ground control capacity in affected areas of the country. FAO-led ground response team trainings concluded in Dire Dawa city and SNNP’s Arba Minch city in recent weeks, with an additional training session scheduled to take place in Amhara Region’s Kombolcha city in the coming weeks. Despite the challenges facing control operations against the next generation of locusts, projected below- average summer rainfall will likely limit future locust breeding opportunities and further diminish locust populations. FAO remains optimistic regarding the likely end of the desert locust upsurge in East Africa by late 2021; however, the UN agency emphasizes that continued vigilance and sustained surveillance and control efforts are necessary to effectively curtail the current locust threat. In addition, locust- affected communities throughout the region will continue to require livelihoods recovery and resilience assistance for months to come. Finally, due to the recurrent threat of locust infestations in East Africa, FAO, USAID, and other response partners continue to emphasize the importance of developing long- term locust surveillance and control capacity among local, national, and regional actors. Locust Response Operations Safeguard Food Security of 34 Million People Locust control teams—including teams supported with USAID/BHA contributions—treated more than 4.9 million acres of infested land in East Africa and Yemen between January 2020 and early April 2021, preventing the loss of nearly 4 million metric tons of crops at harvest time and nearly 790 million liters of milk, valued together at more than $1.5 billion, FAO reports. The interventions have safeguarded the food security of approximately 34 million people reliant on cereal crops and pastoralist livelihoods. KEY FIGURES U.S. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE SURVEILLANCE AND PEST CONTROL USAID/BHA funding provides critical equipment and materials—including aircraft and vehicles for surveillance and control, as well as pesticides—for 5 response interventions in locust-affected countries. In areas where Countries receiving launching aerial control operations remains challenging due to ongoing USAID support for insecurity, USAID/BHA is supporting qualified locust control teams to desert locust control conduct ground interventions using backpack and vehicle-mounted sprayers. USAID/BHA has also supported one plane and six helicopter deployments to reinforce surveillance and control capacity in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. The plane enables control operations in Ethiopia to cover long distances and spray large expanses of infested areas in a single flight. Meanwhile, the helicopters allow response teams to verify surveillance data 7 and determine adequacy of control in hard-to-reach areas, including areas with rough, rugged terrain and with no airstrips—where planes are typically Aircraft contracted with USAID/BHA unable to fly over or land—and areas that are difficult to reach by ground support

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