Germany is increasing its aid for humanitarian measures to fight the locust outbreak in East Africa, making available an additional 17 million euros to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The German Government is increasing its financial support to 20 million euros for the humanitarian measures that are being taken by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to fight the locust upsurge in East Africa. An additional 17 million euros will be provided on top of the 3 million that have already been pledged.

Germany is supporting a range of humanitarian efforts that are under way to safeguard livelihoods among the affected population, e.g. control operations that limit the spread of locusts and distributing feed to livestock that is threatened by food insecurity due to the locust swarms.

Background information:

East Africa is faced with the worst locust infestation in decades. The FAO currently expects the financial need for urgently required aid in the eight affected countries to total 138 million US dollars, with this number continuing to rise.

In 2019, Germany made available some 185 million euros in humanitarian assistance to the countries impacted by the infestation at the time. For 2020, Germany has already made contractual commitments to various humanitarian organisations that amount to approximately 60 million euros.