Outside Mogadishu, locusts turn farmland into desert
Locusts outside Mogadishu
A rifle on his back, Mohamed Yasin tries in vain to chase away the swarm of yellow-coloured insects that have invaded his farm as his camels mill about nearby.
Swarming on the outskirts of Mogadishu, locusts are eating away at Yasin`s livelihood, destroying maize and beans and all his grass.
"We have asked the government to help us on how we will fight the locusts as they are turning everywhere into a desert," Yasin told Reuters.
The insect plague hitting Somalia is part of a once-in-a-generation succession of swarms that have swept across East Africa and the Red Sea region since late 2019, driven by unusual weather patterns.
In a region where many already go hungry, The coronavirus has this year exacerbated the crisis by disrupting the supply chain of pesticides and other equipment needed to fight them off.