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Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya/CFM -Moses Muoki

County News

Experts to file locust invasion assessment report in 4 weeks – Munya

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar, 11 –  The Ministry of Agriculture Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Wednesday announced an impact assessment report on locust invasion will be ready in four weeks.

The experts were part of a team recruited by government to gauge the impact of the locust invasion in the country.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said the findings of the report will help the government draft mitigation measures to assist the affected communities.

Munya who gave a status update in Nairobi on locust control further appealed to the public to continue giving information and alerts on the sighting of locusts and expressed confidence that the menace will have been dealt with by June 2020.

“As for the impact assessment, we have recruited experts to ascertain how much the economy has been affected because it is evident that agriculture sector is affected and therefore, we want to know where to start in assisting communities residing in the most affected counties,” he said.

Munya stated that the government is working together with counties on the training of 50 youths deployed to spray and contain the locusts.

“This is the worst desert locust invasion in the country, and it is a huge threat to our food security so we have to do all we can to contain it. So far, phase one and two that we have been involved in has been successful and we hope this success will continue until we have no more hoppers in our country,” the CS said.

The ministry is also seeking to increase the number of spraying aircraft to 20.

Munya said the locust-control operation being used involves ground and aerial surveillance of the locusts.

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“Immediately a swarm is reported, its movement is monitored both on the ground and in the air using the surveillance aircraft. The coordinates of the roosting site (where the swarm settles for the night)  are shared with the Coordination team and an aircraft is deployed for spraying of the swarm before they can move, mainly the following morning,” Munya added.

Since the locust swarms found their way into the country early December last year, a coordination centre has been set up at the Kilimo House and a ground operations center at the Isiolo Airport.

The exercise has seen the collaboration of the National Government Agencies, County Governments, Private sector players, The Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) and development partners, including FAO.  

So far, 26 counties have been affected with Marsabit, Garissa, Mandera, Isiolo and Tharaka Nithi being the worst hit counties.

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