The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nation is warning of a possible invasion of desert locust in the northern part of Ghana.

According to the Organisation, this could affect agriculture season yields which could lead to food insecurity and impact the livelihoods of citizens in the country.

Speaking on Joy News Today, Head of the Pests, Crop and Disease Division of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ebenezer Aboagye, indicated that with the early warning the Ministry has instigated processes to procure insecticides to deal with the pests when they reach Ghana.

“The best thing to use to control them is the insecticide, so processes are ongoing, it is almost complete so assuming instead of worms we have an invasion of these locusts, we can quickly divert and use the insecticide to wipe them out,” he said.

He added that an alert has been issued to all regional and district directors and Prime Protection Officers to be on the lookout of these food devouring pests.

“Now we are doing some surveillance throughout the country, so our staff are going round to see whether they are can identify the swamps.

“The farmers will also be involved so that when they go to their farms and they see any group of grasshoppers there, they should quickly alert the staff to move in there,” he stated.

Mr Aboagye further added that, with the pests having a speed of 150km/h (93miles) with the wind, they could be closer to the country within three-four days but assured the populace that systems have been put in place to control the insect when they invade the country.

East Africa has been hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years, the UN's FAO has revealed.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are all struggling with "unprecedented" and "devastating" swarms of the food-devouring insects.

This has caused the UN to call for international to help fight the huge swarms of desert locusts sweeping through the eastern part of the continent.