- Second round of invasion by the desert locusts to happen in the next one to two months
- FAO has appealed for $76 million in emergency aid to tackle the locust threat regionally
Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture has warned that East Africa should be prepared for a second round of invasion by the desert locusts in the next one to two months. The warning is based on the assumption that the eggs laid by the swarm of locusts on their migratory paths will hatch between March and April. The hoppers generally take three to six weeks to fly. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Peter Munya assured that a plan to counter the problem was already formulated. These included procurement of additional sprayers, aerial spraying, surveillance etc. There are reports that the new invasion will hit Kenya’s food-growing regions such as the North Rift. Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture has allocated $2.3 million towards aerial and ground control operations.
United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported locust invasion in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. FAO’s Director-General Qu Dongyu, pointed out that the locusts had spread to the northern edges of Uganda and Tanzania, and urged for swift action to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the region. FAO has appealed for $76 million in emergency aid to tackle the locust threat regionally. Experts have said that the invasion represented an unprecedented threat. Though the assessment ruled out immediate risks to food security and agricultural output since most commercial farmers had already harvested their crops, if the swarms invade key food growing regions, it could affect the new planting season.
In Rwanda, the Meteorology department has projected that the desert locusts could land in the Eastern Province within two weeks. A task force from the Ministry of Agriculture and Disaster Management has been assigned to deal with the looming invasion. The Ugandan government has set aside $4.5 million as a contingency fund to fight the locusts and has requested for contingency funds of $1.35 million for aircraft fuel, pesticides and other supplies.
