"FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION - FAO"

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

FAO illuminated its headquarters in Rome with the green-white-red lights of the Italian "Tricolore" flag on Monday (23 Mar), as a sign of solidarity with its host country as it grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic. FAO

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said humanitarians expect “a rapid deterioration in the Desert Locust situation in the Greater Horn of Africa” with widespread breeding and new swarms starting to form. UNIFEED

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it was working together with the Ministry of Agricultural Development of Somaliland to curb the spread of desert locusts through control operations with the use of biopesticide and surveillance efforts with an innovative tool called eLocust3. FAO

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

A United Nations spokesperson said, locust swarms “continue to spread within eastern Africa, with nine countries now affected: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania, and Uganda,” and “one small swarm” has reached the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNIFEED

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Executive Director of World Food Programme, today called for increased funding to tackle the swarms of locusts in eastern Africa, a UN spokesperson told reporters in New York. UNIFEED / FILE

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.