Locusts swarm over Kenya

They're moving across Kenya and eating the food on the farms. They have eaten lots of food in Somalia and Ethiopia.

Locusts are insects similar to grasshoppers. They fly in large groups of up to 80 million insects. These groups can travel 130 kilometres a day.

Locusts eat food grown by farmers. This shortage of food means many people go hungry. People could die of hunger.

'Food security' is an important issue in the region.

This year, the locust situation in East Africa is "the worst in 25 years."

Police are shooting into the air and using teargas on the insects. The Kenyan Government is using planes. They're killing locusts with pesticides.

Locusts have destroyed 70,000 hectares in Ethiopia and Somalia.

The fear is that locust numbers are increasing in other countries. They are also in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Weniger anzeigen