Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 8 (EI) – The Ethiopian government and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have called for urgent actions against deteriorating Desert Locust infestation as it posed a severe danger on Ethiopia’s agricultural production.
“The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) infestation in Ethiopia has deteriorated, despite ongoing ground and aerial control operations,” FAO said in a statement issued on late Thursday, as it joined the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (EMA) and the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) in calling for “immediate action to control the infestation.”
“Hoppers have fledged, and an increasing number of small immature and mature swarms have continued to devour crop and pasture fields in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and Somali regional states,” FAO said.
“Some farms in the Amhara region have registered nearly 100 percent loss of Teff (a staple crop in Ethiopia),” the statement read.
According to FAO, Desert Locust eggs are hatching profusely and forming hopper bands in Ethiopia’s Somali regional state, due to the heavy rainfall. The hopper bands recorded to date have covered more than 351-km2 and are consuming at least 1,755,000 metric tons (MT) of green vegetation per day.
“We need to act fast and mobilize the required resources urgently to scale up control and preventive measures. So far, hopper bands have been controlled in only 21 000 hectares, out of the 48 000 hectares surveyed between August and October 2019 in 56 breeding Woredas (districts),” the statement quoted Fatouma Seid, FAO Representative in Ethiopia, as saying.
According to Seid, control measures against hopper bands “have become difficult in areas affected by ongoing insecurity, particularly in Dire Dawa city.”
FAO also warned that if not controlled, the Desert Locusts could continue moving within Ethiopia and invade northeast Kenya, the western lowlands and highlands of Eritrea, the Red Sea coastal plains in Eritrea, and adjacent southern coastal areas in Sudan.
FAO and the Ethiopian government also announced that they will work to scale up control measures for fledgling hoppers, immature adults and newly arrived egg-laying swarms, particularly in the Somali region and other winter breeding areas in November and December 2019.
Photo – FAO & Addis Standard
