14 May/June 2020 Barnabas Aid
Project Joseph
SAVE GOD’S PEOPLE FROM LOCUST SWARMS
Experts warn that a 400-times increase in locust numbers could occur in a second wave of breeding underway in Pakistan and the Horn of Africa, if current control efforts fail
Dual shock of locust plague and coronavirus spike putting millions at risk of famine in East Africa and Pakistan
T
he world is reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting countries rich and poor. At the same time an old and familiar foe – a locust plague – is devastating areas of Africa and Asia. While media attention and Western resources focus on tackling their own coronavirus crisis, how will these regions’ struggling healthcare systems deal with it? And what resources will be left to help the victims of the locusts, whose crops have been destroyed, leaving them with the prospect of starvation? The plague of locusts is breeding at a staggering rate in East Africa and South Asia where crops and livelihoods were devastated by the ravenous insects in the early months of 2020. Many thousands of already marginalised and persecuted Christians are among those facing famine after vast swarms of locusts devoured crops.
A Pakistani Christian farmer in locust afflicted Sindh province
