© Ben Curtis/AP
A farmer’s daughter waves her shawl to chase away swarms of desert locusts in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya.
Locust swarms threaten a "rolling emergency" that could endanger harvests and food security across parts of Africa and Asia for the rest of the year, experts warn.
An initial infestation of locusts in December was expected to die out during the current dry season. But unseasonal rains have allowed several generations of locust to breed, resulting in new swarms forming.
Huge swarms of locusts have been causing devastation across swathes of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Erratic weather conditions and storms have aided their path. As a result, countries have been battling the pests for months to avoid a hunger crisis.
Desert locusts, which live in areas between west Africa and India, cause the most devastation and like to breed in moist conditions. These locusts live for three months. Eggs hatch two weeks after they have been laid, and hoppers become adults after about six weeks.
Adult locusts can eat their body weight every day, and fly up to 150km a day in search of new supplies.
Kenya is experiencing its worst infestation for 70 years, with pastoralists complaining that the vegetation on which their livestock feeds is being wiped out. Ethiopia and Somalia have not seen an outbreak this bad for 25 years. Swarms have also been destroying crops in Uganda, India and Pakistan.
Comment: Devastating swarms of locusts now headed for the Middle East - UN forecaster