Insecurity heightens locust invasion threat in Mali, Niger--FAO
The over 40-year regime of the late Colonel Moummar Gadaffi of Libya has fallen, but the ripple effects of war continues to affect Sub-Saharan Africa.
The UN FAO warns that a locust invasion, previously controlled by the late Gaddafi government, is threatening Niger and Mali croplands.
“Unfortunately the timing of the arrival of the locus from Mali and Niger coincides with the same time when the farmers are planting this season’s crops in the ground and when the crops are to emerge,” FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer, Keith Cressman said in an interview with West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) on Wednesday.
Insecurity in the northern parts of these countries is further hampering control-efforts on the ground to stop the advancement of locust swarms.
“Now the insecurity in northern Mali and the insecurity in northern Niger will have an effect, because it is difficult for teams in both of those countries again to get into areas where the locust will be arriving,” Cressman said.
To discuss the imminent risk from desert locust swarms moving southward from Algeria and Libya to eat crops of already vulnerable people of Mali and Niger, WADR’s Elisabeth-Laure Njipwo interviews is FAO’s Keith Cressman.
Click audio below to listen
At the same time, in the face of growing hardship being faced by people in strife-torn Mali, the interim government has announced removed the tax on rice.
The move comes as tens of thousands of Malian households are being displaced by insurgency in the north, while the seat of government itself, Bamako has been rocked by political instability since last March coup.
According to the Malian government, the measure was taken after an analysis of the current situation in the country.
WADR’s Bamako Correspondent Abdoul Karim Ba reports.
Click audio below to listen
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