The Bukwo Resident District Commissioner, Tom Chesol told on URN Tuesday evening that a swarm of the desert locusts entered Bukwo from Kanyere in West Pokot County in Kenya around midday.
A poor harvest in 2014-15, historic drought in 2015-16, and the second-worst cyclone on record in 2019 have taken a toll on Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, according to the World Food Programme, creating dire consequences for a country whose population entirely depends on rain-fed agriculture.
The disease affects the colour of the banana fingers and bunches from green to brown or black, according to one of the affected farmers Nestori Aturinda. He says that the disease eventually results in premature ripening and shrinking of the banana’s, yet even when cooked, they remain hard and inedible.
The government deployment Local Defence Unit personnel to spray the locusts using hand-held sprays. But State Minister for Animal Husbandry Bright Rwamirama says that aircraft for the aerial spray was cleared yesterday and will be stationed in Moroto district. Another aircraft has been hired for backup.
Daniel Tonny Otile, a local farmer in Abwong A in Abwong parish, says he was shocked to find countless desert locusts in his 6 acre cassava plantation.
