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Locusts Plague Madagascar

UNITED NATIONS , Jun 26 2013 (IPS) - With over 80 percent of its population struggling to eke out a living on less than a dollar a day, Madagascar is now one of the world’s poorest countries.

Hunger has reached alarming levels and acute malnutrition continues to hover at the rate of 50 percent. All indicators suggest that the country can scarcely hold its head above water, let alone survive any unexpected shocks.

But according to a statement Wednesday by the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, this island nation lying just south of continental Africa has not seen the last of its woes.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is concerned that Madagascar is facing a grave food crisis due to locust plagues that are endangering 13 million people.

Locust plagues have already destroyed more than half the country’s agricultural land and are threatening the food security and livelihoods of 60 percent of the population of 22.7 million people, states an FAO report.

However, attempts to reduce the devastation have been hindered by lack of funds. The FAO claims that a large scale emergency control campaign costing 22 million dollars is required imminently if the crop planting season beginning in September is going to be successful.

But  emergency appeals in Madagascar remain severely underfunded. This is the first stage of a wider three-year plan (2013-2016) by the agency to control the destruction caused by the locusts.

“If we don’t act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This could very well be a last window of opportunity to avert an extended crisis,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva warned.

A recent FAO assessment states that approximately 25 percent of the total rice supply in Madagascar could be lost if measures are not implemented soon. Indeed, some regions of the country have already lost between 40 and 70 percent of their rice and maize crop, the staple foods of the country.

The current infestation threatens to be the worst in Madagascar’s history, barring a 17-year-long plague that hit the country in the 1950s.

The current locust problem intensified in February 2013 when Cyclone Haruna struck the southwest coast of Madagascar, not only causing widespread damage but also improving the locusts’ breeding conditions.

Depending on its size and density, a locust swarm is capable of consuming up to 100,000 tonnes of vegetation per day. In a county already plagued by poverty, the potential damage is tremendous, experts say.

 
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