On Tuesday the 18th of February, South Sudan’s Minister of Agriculture Anyoti Adigo Nyikwach, announced the crossing of locust swarms into the country through southern Magwi county located at the Ugandan border

The desert locusts that have been ravaging crops and grazing land across East Africa have entered South Sudan, a country that is still suffering from widespread hunger, drought, a declining economy and years of civil war.

Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti are battling the worst locust outbreak in decades, and swarms have also spread into Tanzania, Uganda and now South Sudan.

According to the United Nation(UN), desert locusts can travel up to 150km (95 miles) in a day and eat their own body weight in greenery, meaning a swarm just one-kilometre square can eat as much food as 35,000 people in a day, the United Nations says.

The invasion is worsening food shortages in a region where up to 25 million people are suffering from three consecutive years of droughts and floods.

Read more at Aljazeera