Government airlifts pesticides to spray locusts in Karamoja

The Government has dispatched hundreds of boxes of pesticides and sprayers in to be used in the fight against locusts that already crossed from Kenya to Uganda through Amudat and spread to Nabilatuk and Nakapiripirit districts.

Aggrey Bagiire, the agriculture state minister, told journalists at Kololo Independence Grounds on Monday that they had procured pesticides from local suppliers.

The medicine has been airlifted from Kololo to Karamoja by two army choppers.

"The pesticides are effective and efficient. They will be used for ground spraying in the affected areas," he said.

"Last night the locusts entered a place called Kakamongole in Nakapiripirit district. They are being monitored by our people," the minister said.

What I want to assure you is that we are moving in the right direction, the minister added.

"I want to tell the people of this country and to give them comfort that the pesticides were using are not unique. These are the pesticides we have been using," Bagiire said.

"Above all, we are working with the international organisations. So we cannot use dangerous chemicals," he added.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Horn of Africa has been hit by the worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years posing an unprecedented threat to food security in the entire sub-region, where more than 19 million people in East Africa are already experiencing a high degree of food insecurity.