{"id":60651,"date":"2020-02-03T11:07:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T03:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60651"},"modified":"2020-02-03T12:24:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T04:24:59","slug":"somalia-declares-national-emergency-over-locust-plague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60651","title":{"rendered":"Somalia declares &#8216;national emergency&#8217; over locust plague"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/mritems\/imagecache\/mbdxxlarge\/mritems\/Images\/2020\/2\/2\/d7b423271bc349cebff6cde03c22f08a_18.jpg\" alt=\"Desert locusts' destructive infestations cause significant crop damage and hunger [Njeri Mwangi\/Reuters]\"\/><figcaption>Desert locusts&#8217; destructive infestations cause significant crop damage and hunger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>MOGADISHU, Feb 3 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; Somalia declared the invasion of locusts as a national emergency.<br><br>Locusts have devastated food supplies in one of the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world.<br><br>A Sunday statement by Somalia\u2019s Agriculture ministry said the move is due to current upsurge of locusts, which constitute a major threat to the fragile food security in the country.<br><br>The statement added that food sources for people and their livestock are under threat.<br><br>Somalia is the first nation in East Africa to embark on a national mobilization drive to combat the swarm of locusts.<br><br>Experts say the appearance of the hungry locusts could be linked to extreme climate variations.<br><br>The invasion of the insects is a first in 70 years. Totaling several billions, locusts have been destroying large areas in East Africa for several weeks, with fears of a catastrophe for an already drought and flood stricken region.<br><br>Somalia\u2019s government said it will raise funds to try to contain the locusts before harvest in April. An army of locusts spread from Ethiopia, Somalia to Kenya late last month. &#8212; NNN-AFRICANEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOGADISHU, Feb 3 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) &#8212; Somalia declared the invasion of locusts as a national emergency. Locusts have devastated food supplies in one of the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world. A Sunday statement by Somalia\u2019s Agriculture ministry said the move is due to current upsurge of locusts, which constitute a major threat to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":60680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,297],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60651"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}