Desert Locusts invasion in Meru County [David Gichuru, Standard]Ravenous pests are on the march to colder regions, as climate change lures crop eaters to new territories, threatening jobs and exacerbating world hunger, the United Nations said on Wednesday. “The impact of climate change is one of the greatest challenges the plant health community is facing,” Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said after releasing a study covering 15 invasive pests and diseases. With up to 40 per cent of global crop production already lost to pests, according to FAO estimates, any migration into new land could see the scale of that destruction shoot higher. A single, unusually warm winter, for example, may be enough to assist the establishment of invasive pests, the report indicated. “The key findings of this review should alert all of us on how climate change may affect how infectious, distributed and severe pests can become around the world,” said FAO’s Dongyu.

Source: Standard Digital June 06, 2021 21:00 UTC