With the Sahel region already facing food shortages and a potential full-scale emergency, the region now faces further difficulties from increased locust activity. FEWS NET (the Famine Early Warning Systems Network) warns that anticipated locust breeding in Niger and Mali this month and in Chad and Mauritania in the coming weeks could cause large numbers of locust to damage crops, diminishing an already short food supply and driving  food prices higher.  Read the one-page report, West Africa Food Security Alert.