Experts Warn of Famine as Locusts Destroy Crops
Nearly a million people in Mauritania, Niger, Gambia and elsewhere in West Africa face famine unless they get aid to battle swarms of locusts devouring their crops in the region’s worst plague in 15 years, farmers and government experts warned.
Mohamed Lemine of Mauritania’s national agriculture federation said his group expects an 80% deficit in the nation’s cereal crop. “What’s more, 600,000 to 800,000 people will be affected by famine,” he said.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has put immediate aid needs at $80 million but said just $9 million has been pledged so far.
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