Locust plague may cause food crisis in Madagascar
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, June 27, 2013
The UN food and agriculture agency on Wednesday urgently appealed for 22 million U. S. dollars to tackle the ongoing locust plague in Madagascar that threatens to trigger a food crisis in the island nation, a UN spokesman told reporters here.
 |
|
Locusts fly across Ilaka Centre Village, Soavina County of Ambositra dirstict, around 225 km south of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo on May 28, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua] |
"The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Wednesday that Madagascar risks a serious food crisis as locusts have already infested over half of the country's cultivated land and pastures," said Eduardo del Buey, deputy spokesperson for UN secretary-general, at the daily briefing.
The FAO expects that two-thirds of the country will be infested by locusts by September. Some 13 million people's food security and livelihoods will be at stake, or nearly 60 percent of the total population.
"The UN agency said that a large-scale emergency control campaign urgently requires a minimum of 22 million U.S. dollars in funding to start in time for the next crop planting season in September," del Buey said, adding that so far its emergency appeals for Madagascar remain "severely underfunded."
The spokesman also quoted FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva as saying that "if we don't act now, the locust plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars."
A recent assessment by the FAO found that rice and maize losses due to the locusts in some parts of the country vary from 40 to 70 percent of the crop, with 100 percent losses on certain plots.
The agency estimated that losses in rice production could be up to 630,000 tonnes, or about 25 percent of total demand for rice in Madagascar. Rice is the main staple in the country, where 80 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar per day.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)