The U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is proud to award $245,000 to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to measure the impact of desert locusts in Uganda.

The worst desert locust outbreak in decades is underway in the greater Horn of Africa region, including Uganda.  Thousands of hectares of cropland and pasture have been affected.  This is a major threat in a region that is already facing food security crises.  Since February 2020, the desert locust swarms have reached Karamoja, Teso, Acholi, and Lango regions, posing a potential threat to the food security of more than 1.3 million people.  The Government of Uganda needs urgent support to detect and reduce locust populations, prevent more swarms, and avoid the spread to even more areas.

This award will allow the Food and Agriculture Organization to determine the impact of desert locusts on the livelihoods of people in the affected areas, and identify opportunities and capacities for recovery at household, community, and local economic levels.  The activity will also assess the impact of desert locusts on food security overall and estimate the number of people in Teso, Lango, and Acholi who are facing food insecurity.

In June, Feed the Future initiative, through USAID, awarded nearly $135,000 to the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich in London to train national and district governments and communities in Uganda to carry out intensive locust control. 

USAID works in partnership with the people and the Government of Uganda to develop the Ugandan agriculture sector and strengthen Uganda’s well-being and prosperity.