Swarms of locusts devastate parts of northern Kenya

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-locusts-turkana/swarms-of-locusts-devastate-parts-of-northern-kenya-idUSKBN24113C


Baz Ratner
June 30, 2020 / 4:43 AM


The branches on trees around Kenya’s northern town of Lodwar have been stripped bare of leaves, bending downwards under the weight of voracious young locusts.

Numbers of locusts exploded in East Africa and the Red Sea region in late 2019, exacerbated by atypical weather patterns amplified by climate change. Swarms of insects flew west from Yemen, and this year reached Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.

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The hatchings have occurred as crops are planted in a region where 20 million people struggle for food.

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