Locusts: Govt on the spot over lack of spray aircraft

Spraying. A Uganda People’s Defence Force officer sprays locusts on a tree in Nakapiripirit District. PHOTO BY LEONARD MUKOOLI

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Local leaders who talked to Daily Monitor said they worry that the locusts will spread to neighbouring districts

Residents and local leaders in Karamoja Sub-region have criticised government over failure to deploy aircraft for aerial spraying against the locusts, which have invaded several districts in Karamoja Sub-region.
Local leaders who talked to Daily Monitor said they worry that the locusts will spread to neighbouring districts.
“Government needs to act fast and get the aircraft because the ground spray effort has proven ineffective. We need the aircraft now before it’s too late,” Mr John Lonye, the councillor representing Morita Sub-county in Nakapiripirit District, said on Saturday.
Mr Lonye said there is need for more personnel, vehicles and chemicals.
When we visited Lopeduru Village in Kakomongole Sub-county in Nakapiripirit District on Friday, Mr Abraham Angela, 38, was found chasing away a swarm of locusts from his garden by throwing stones.
“These locusts are deadly and they will leave nothing including our pasture, which is a key production factor to our livelihood,” he said.
On Friday, a swarm of locusts arrived in Amudat District through the villages of Kasesi and Kasayi in West Pokot County in Kenya and settled in Komoret Village.
Another swarm was seen in the neighbouring Lagoro and Omiya-Anyima sub-counties of Kitgum and another one in Agago District, which later flew to Karenga and Kaabong districts. On Saturday, another swarm was reported in Kumi District.
The commissioner for crop protection at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Mr Stephen Byantwale, said the process of buying the aircrafts is on-going.
Earlier, the State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Aggrey Bagire, said government lacks the chemicals for aerial spraying.
“Government has moved on the front of aircrafts but now the challenge, we do not have chemicals that can be used by the planes. The chemicals we have right now are not the type that can be used by the aircrafts,” Mr Bagire said.
The minister said the chemicals are manufactured only in Japan.
“The desert locust control organisation does not have these chemicals, so it’s the responsibility of government to buy them,” he said.
Mr Bagire said their counterparts in Kenya and Tanzania have already bought the chemicals.
“We never bought because we had agreed with the Tanzanian government to give us some of their supplies unfortunately locusts invaded us at the same time,” he said.

Background
Recently, the Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Martin Owor, said the ground spray teams were finding it hard to target the insects due to the warm weather, which enables insects to fly away with ease. He, however, said millions of locusts were killed.
Maj Gen Samuel Kavuma, the deputy commander of Land Force, said the army needs planes for aerial spraying. “As you can see we are overwhelmed by the number of insects and the pumps we are using cannot spray the insecticide above the trees yet most of these are resting on top of the trees,” Gen Kavuma said.
He added that UPDF is prepared to fight the locusts even if it means deploying the whole army.