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Desert Locust Invasion Update March 2020

In Kenya

• The cost of shipping the pesticides has gone up three times because there are very few flights operating,” said Prof Hamadi Iddi Boga, Principal Secretary of Crop Development and Agricultural Research in Kenya.
• New swarms of locusts are forming Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia facing the biggest risk.

In Uganda

• Technical Surveillance teams in the region continue to receive reports of Desert Locust hatching in Agago, Ngora, Sironko and Bukwo.
• A swarm spreading about 6 square kilometres was observed on 12th March 2020 in Masike, Kangole Town Council near Kangole Girls Primary School in Karamoja sub-region. Control measures undertaken by the Uganda Police and Defense Force, however, suppressed the swarm
• A second aircraft was flagged off by Hon. Henry Aggrey Bagiire the Minister of State for Agriculture on 1st March.
• The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries trained an additional 100 Agricultural Extension Officers in week one of March in addition to 450 already trained from Karamoja and Teso sub-regions.

In Ethiopia

•  Hopper bands have been reported in Oromiya and SNNPR regions
• The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture on 5th March called on its international partners to support ongoing efforts to avert desert locust-inflicted food insecurity in the country.
• According to the state minister, the locust is expected to upsurge in Ethiopia until the end of August, in which the situation could be further exacerbated by new swarm breeding, which may produce more locust swarms.
• The Ethiopian government has so far allocated 30 million Ethiopian birr (about $1 million) funding in addition to financial pledges from its partners to support the prevention and controlling mechanisms in the coming months.

In Djibouti

• Hopper bands and immature swarms on the coast between Tadjourah and Obock.

In Congo

• A small group of desert locusts entered Congo on the western shore of Lake Albert in eastern Congo in February near the town of Bunia. The country has not seen locusts for 75 years.
• There is no new information regarding the counter measures in Congo.

In South Sudan

• Few mature swarms from the south appeared in the southeast near Torit.
• Over 2,000 locusts swarmed into South Sudan through southern Magwi county, on the border with in March.
• There is no new information regarding the counter measures in South Sudan.

In Eritrea

• Hopper bands and immature swarms have been recorded on the coast between Tadjourah and Obock.
• The Eritrean government in early March disclosed that it had successfully contained a new desert locust invasion that swarmed in excess of 400-hectares-of-land in the country's Northern Red Sea region.
• The Ministry revealed that Eritrea has treated more than 57,000 hectares of land that was infested with desert locusts as of the beginning of March.
• A new mature adult locust swarm appeared in the same region on Feb. 29 and covered around 200 hectares of land and has been also put under control as of March 3 with the use of four sprayer-mounted vehicles.
• The country has dispatched about 11,078 farmers and military personnel as well as 110 experts

Funding Resources

• The UN is appealing for $153 million to help fight the locusts. So far around $107 million has been pledged or received from donors.
• The Japanese government on 14th March said it will provide $7.5 million in emergency aid to Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia
• The aid will be used for food distribution and to boost the resilience of small-scale farmers against natural disasters, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

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