By Bisola Adeyemo
Garissa County in Kenya has called on the government to fight against desert locusts and other invasive pests and weeds in the region.
Agriculture CEC Mohamed Shale who spoke during a regional stakeholder’s consultative forum in the county said equity in resource allocation was a critical and would allow Kenya to swiftly and promptly deal with the desert locusts menace while they were still in the frontier counties, well before they ravaged other parts of the country, KNA gathered.
“There is no need to spend up to 70 per cent of available resources paying compensation and fighting locusts when they are already ravaging the major farm lands in this country. These resources could have been used to deal with the locusts prior to them reaching there when they were still spawning and growing,” Shale said.
“In a day, a one-square kilometer swarm of locusts can eat enough crops to feed 35,000 people. This strategy will allow us to put in place systems for early warning, response and control to these locusts and secure the future of our people and nation,” Shale noted.
“There should be adequate resources for livelihood support and restoration for dealing with the after-effects of migratory pests in affected communities.
“A great deal can be achieved through cash injections and farming and livestock-based recovery packages that would help at-risk communities,” he said.
