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Di mabilang na kulisap, o tipaklong ang gumambala sa Kenya nitong nakaraang araw. Halos manilim ang kalangitan ng lumabas ang mga ito.
Isang palaisipan ang biglaang paglabas ng napakaraming kulisap na naging isang malaking banta sa mga magsasaka. Ito na yata ang pinaka malalang locust outbreak sa loob ng 7 dekada.
Sabi ng isang masasaka na si Ndunda Makanga, pati mga baka ay nagtataka kung ano ang nangyayari, habang sya ay nagtataboy ng mga kulisap sa kanilang sakahan.
Ayon pa sa kanya, kinakain ng mga kulisap ang mais, at iba pang pananim na kanilang madadapuan. Kapag dumating daw ang tag-ulan nitong Marso mas lalo pa daw dadami ng 500 times ang mga kulisap ayon sa United Nation.
Ayon sa ulat ng The Most Popularist:
We must act immediately,” said David Phiri of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, as donors huddled in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where one expert had to reassure attendees at a press conference that the locust invasion was not a portent of the biblical “end of times”.
About US$70 million is needed to step up aerial pesticide spraying, the only effective way to combat them, the UN says. That won’t be easy, especially in Somalia, where parts of the country are in the grip of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group.
The rose-coloured locusts turn whole trees pink, clinging to branches like quivering ornaments before taking off in hungry, rustling clouds.
About 70,000 hectares of land in Kenya are already infested.
“This one, ai! This is huge,” said Kipkoech Tale, a migratory pest control specialist with the agriculture ministry. “I’m talking about over 20 swarms that we have sprayed. We still have more. And more are coming.”
“The locals are really scared because they can consume everything,” Kitoo said.
“I’ve never seen such a big number.”
The locusts eat the fodder for animals, a crucial source of livelihood for families who now worry how they will pay for expenses like school fees, he said.
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