Uganda on locust alert

Nov 27, 2007

UGANDA is under threat of being invaded by desert locusts that are already ravaging crops in neighbouring Kenya.

By Milton Olupot

UGANDA is under threat of being invaded by desert locusts that are already ravaging crops in neighbouring Kenya.

“As the locusts begin to hit northern Kenya, Uganda is not safe because they are capable of covering hundreds of miles in a day,” Evarist Magara, the country representative of the Desert Locust Control Organisation for East Africa, said yesterday.

He appealed to communities, especially those in eastern and northern Uganda, to report to the nearest authorities, including agricultural offices, in case the pests invade their areas. Magara advised the local authorities to report the cases to the Crop Protection Department in Entebbe.

The emergency telephone numbers provided for such information are 0414-320115, 0414-237861 and 0712-803655.

Magara said the locusts last invaded East Africa 45 years back and they had been limited and managed around their breeding grounds near the desert.

“The current upsurge is due to the abnormal weather patterns, including heavy rains and floods experienced across the globe.”

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, desert locusts are migratory grasshoppers that often travel in vast swarms.

A desert locust lives for about three to five months. The life cycle comprises three stages: egg, hopper and adult.

An adult locust consumes roughly its own weight in fresh food per day — about two grammes. A very small part of an average swarm eats as much food as about 2,500 people in a day.

“A desert locust is one of the world’s most serious pests and can cause massive crop and vegetation damage, resulting in famine,” Magara said.

According to the control organisation, several swarms of small desert locusts invaded Kenya recently. “The swarms are mature, low-density and in the process of laying eggs in the districts of Mandera and Kalala near the borders of Ethiopia and Somalia. Crop damage has been reported near Dawa River on the Ethiopian border,” it said.

The swarms originated from summer breeding areas in the interior of Yemen, where they moved across the Gulf of Aden in September to northern Somalia.

During October, the swarm matured and drifted across northern Somalia, moving into eastern Ethiopia, where they laid eggs in the Ogaden region by the end of the month, the organisation said in a statement.

A few swarms have reportedly also been seen in areas of Somalia near Belet Wayne and more recently in Juba region near Kenya.

“A few more swarms could appear in north-eastern Kenya in the coming days but it is extremely unlikely that the current swarm will move much further south in Kenya.”

In the first week of December, hatching is expected to occur in north-eastern Kenya and small hopper bands will from.

It will take four weeks before the wingless hoppers fledge and develop into adults.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});