Fight against desert locust swarms still going on in East Africa
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Sustained efforts to contain East Africa’s worst invasion of desert locusts in decades are forging ahead, despite limits on the flow of personnel and equipment stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the UN food agency said Friday.
The infestation remains alarming, particularly in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia where it poses an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods for millions, noted the “There is no significant slowdown because all the affected countries working with FAO consider desert locusts a national priority”, said Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s Resilience Team Leader for East Africa.
A worker from Somaliland’s Ministry of Agriculture holds a desert locust after spraying them with bio-pesticide in one of the breeding grounds for the desert locusts in Geerisa town, Lughaya District, some 350km north east of the capital Hargeisa, Somaliland. EPA-EFE/Daniel Irungu
“While lockdowns are becoming reality, people engaged in the fight against the (locust) upsurge are still allowed to conduct surveillance and air and ground control operations,” he said.
Widespread rainfall in March is expected to generate a dramatic increase in locust numbers in the coming months, with new swarms due to move from Kenya into South Sudan and Uganda.
The situation is also worrying in Iran and Yemen where a new generation of locusts is emerging, the Rome-based agency said.
So far, more than 240,000 hectares across 10 countries have been treated with chemical pesticides or biopesticides, and 750 people have been trained to carry out ground locust control operations.
Restrictions imposed by many countries to contain the coronavirus outbreak are creating challenges, but FAO said is it working with Governments, farmers and agricultural producers to overcome hurdles.
But COVID-19 is having an impact on the supply of pesticides as well as motorized sprayers. Mr. Ferrand said the biggest challenge is delays in pesticide deliveries due to a significant reduction in global air freight operations.
“Our absolute priority is to prevent a breakdown in pesticide stocks in each country”, he said. “That would be dramatic for rural populations whose livelihoods and food security depend on the success of our control campaign.”
To respond to restrictions on the movement of personnel, FAO is making greater use of remote data collection through a critical network of partners, civil society, extension workers and grassroots organizations.
