With its economy in meltdown and malnutrition rising, now Afghanistan is hit by swarms of locusts

Locust infestation could wipe out 25 per cent of Afghanistan’s wheat crop this year as 875,000 children slip into malnutrition

Eight of Afghanistan’s total 34 provinces have been plagued by the Moroccan locust, known to be the most deadly and damaging in the world (Getty Images)

A swarm of damaging locusts threatens to eat its way through a quarter of Afghanistan’s annual wheat crop – at a time when the Taliban-ruled country is plagued with rising poverty, a difficult economy and malnutrition among thousands of children.

Eight of the country’s total 34 provinces have been plagued by the Moroccan locust, known to be the most economically damaging pests in the world, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement.

“The reports of Moroccan Locust outbreak in Afghanistan’s breadbasket is a huge concern,” the agency’s Afghanistan representative Richard Trenchard said. “It represents an enormous threat to farmers, communities, and the entire country,” he said.