[ti:Huge Swarms of Locusts Invade Kenya, Somalia] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Swarms of locusts have destroyed large areas of farmland and are threatening food security in East Africa. [00:11.76]Kenya is reporting its worst locust outbreak in 70 years. [00:19.08]Billions of the insects have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of plant life across the country. [00:30.28]Record locust outbreaks have also been reported in Ethiopia and Somalia. [00:39.08]The insects have also attacked parts of Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea. [00:47.68]The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, [00:53.88]is calling it East Africa's worst desert locust invasion in 25 years. [01:02.60]In Somalia, the government declared a national emergency because of locusts. [01:10.08]It said the outbreak was presenting a "major threat" to the already weakened food security situation. [01:20.52]Airplanes have been releasing chemical pesticides to control the locust population. [01:28.72]But officials have said they have limited money and equipment to fight the insects in affected areas. [01:38.40]UN officials have said they are worried that the swarms could spread to Uganda and South Sudan. [01:47.28]They estimate that $76 million is needed now [01:52.96]to widen efforts aimed at preventing further spread across East Africa. [02:01.20]The desert locusts – which grow to be about as long as a person's finger - produce young very quickly. [02:10.60]They fly in large groups in search of food. [02:15.60]The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, an East African group, [02:23.68]reports that locust swarms can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer. [02:34.68]It noted that "the swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 100 to 150 kilometers in a day." [02:45.72]An average swarm could destroy the same number of food crops in a day as could feed 2,500 people, the group added. [02:58.72]UN officials have warned that if the extreme outbreaks are not controlled, [03:04.36]the number of locusts could grow 500 times by June. [03:11.68]Last December, Somalia suffered a locust outbreak that destroyed about 100,000 hectares of farmland. [03:22.64]Government officials have warned that a second invasion will be even more destructive. [03:30.44]The current outbreaks followed one of the wettest years on record in East Africa. [03:37.92]Heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures help the locust population grow. [03:45.24]Officials from the FAO say that even before the locust invasions, [03:51.20]about 11 million people were experiencing food insecurity in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. [04:02.20]"Therefore, we need to make all possible efforts to avoid such a deterioration," said FAO official Dominique Burgeon. [04:14.28]He spoke to a Reuters news agency reporter after visiting two affected areas in Kenya. [04:22.92]In Somalia, conflict and instability issues have made pesticide spraying operations difficult, the FAO noted in December. [04:34.84]In northern Kenya, five planes were releasing chemicals to fight the outbreak, The Associated Press reported. [04:44.48]Marcus Dunn is a pilot and the director of Farmland Aviation, [04:50.08]a company which uses airplanes to drop pesticides and fertilizer on farmland. [04:58.16]He told The AP the five planes should be enough to look over this part of northern Kenya for now. [05:07.04]However, he said if the locust problem increases in other parts of the country, [05:13.40]"we are going to need some more assistance, because we just don't know how big this problem is going to be." [05:22.84]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM