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Did you know that in some parts of Africa, climate change is fueling pest outbreaks and spread?

Climate change is causing already hot regions in Africa to become hotter and this is encouraging the spread of new crop pests in some African countries — from locusts to worms.

According to scientists, as temperatures rise, the reproduction success of crop pests also increases, making it a perfect breeding condition for them. However, some crop pests are forced to move away from the tropics towards more temperate areas when temperature levels get too high as it can slow their growth and reproduction and wash away their eggs and larvae.

As these crop pests migrate, they wreak havoc on farmlands by destroying crops – a major headache for farmers who bear the loss.

In 2020, a great number of locust swarms swept across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, eating their way through crops and grazing land.

Similarly, in East Africa, locust swarms plagued farmlands and caused serious food and financial threat to farmers, spreading further to regions with suitable weather conditions (mostly colder), creating new habitats, and destroying crops along the way.

The impact of climate change is one of the greatest challenges the plant health community is facing as a significant amount of crop production in the region is lost to crop pests.

These invasions bear major economic consequences on African countries and farmers are now struggling to grow enough crops to eat or trade.

Way forward

To address crop pests invasion in Africa, experts say there is a need to monitor pest outbreaks. They believe early warning systems are also crucial tools to warn farmers, researchers, and policymakers of potential outbreaks.

In addition, there is a need for farmers to breed pest-resistant crop varieties as they are eco-friendly instead of pesticides. They can also adopt farm controls like crop rotation and other mechanical control measures like light or sticky traps.