The Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region
DL Situation
Desert Locust Bulletin, No. 519, December 2021
Small swarms form in NE Somalia

Desert Locusts remained confined to northeast Somalia and southern Ethiopia where control operations continued to reduce infestations during December. As expected, hoppers began to fledge at mid-month and formed several small immature swarms in northeast Somalia. The few swarms are limited in size and have so far remained mostly in the breeding areas. Nevertheless, it is likely that a few small swarms will move south through central and southern Somalia and adjacent areas of eastern Ethiopia to reach southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya during January. An early movement may have already occurred in late December when a few immature swarms were seen in southern Ethiopia near the Rift Valley where control operations were underway against small summer-bred mature swarms that so far have not bred. There should be sufficient teams and resources to undertake control operations well before the current swarms mature and breed, which would not occur until about April. Low numbers of solitarious adults are present in the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea in southeast Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Yemen, and on the Gulf of Aden coast in northwest Somalia. Small-scale breeding commenced in Egypt, Yemen, and Somalia but numbers should remain low based on current predictions of poor rainfall during the winter. Consequently, the outlook is optimistic and suggests the upsurge will continue to decline. The situation remains calm in other regions.

website link:
http://desertlocust-crc.org/Pages/Bulletin.aspx?DomainId=58&lang=EN&DId=0&I=0&CId=0&CMSId=800347
pdf link:
http://desertlocust-crc.org/Download.ashx?File=App_Uploads/Bulletins/Files/220109092241DL519e.pdf
DLIS - 04, Jan 2022