Museveni, in his address to the nation on Sunday, alluded that ground spraying by soldiers using hand sprayers and motorized pumps was more effective than the aerial spray. He noted that the aircraft was small and unable to work at night when the insects have settled.
Local leaders in Teso have welcomed President Yoweri Museveni’s
decision to suspend aerial spraying of desert locusts in preference for the
ground spray.
Museveni, in his address to the nation on Sunday, alluded that ground spraying
by soldiers using hand sprayers and motorized pumps was more effective than the
aerial spray. He noted that the aircraft was small and unable to work at night
when the insects have settled.
“Another mistake they made was to depend on the aircraft. First of all, these
aircraft are small and secondly, they don’t fly at night. The locusts land at
7:00 pm and lay there until it gets warm, the following day, around 10:00 am.
The aircraft wait until 8:00 am to spray but even when they are up there, they
don’t see”, Museveni said in his address.
Leaders in Teso want the government to continue with ground
spraying of the insects as opposed to the aerial spray. The spraying conducted
mostly at night has seen a reasonable number of locusts destroyed.
The soldiers use torches; sometimes tied either on their foreheads
or hands. In some instances, residents help soldiers flash the insects with
their torches or any lights available.
Walter Elakas, the LCV Chairperson Katakwi says ground spraying of locusts is
very effective and cost-friendly. He observes that night spray prevents local
communities from chasing away locusts as some of the communities in Teso had
resorted banging pans to chase away the insects.
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Rajab Ogogol, an entomologist in Kumi district says that ground spraying is
very effective with the engagement of the local community that he notes help in
fetching water, locating insects and guiding soldiers. With the torches, Ogogol
says that the soldiers can see the insects at night and spray them.
In Kumi, the locusts destroyed more than 1,000 gardens of millet, cowpeas,
green gram, watermelon, rice and soya beans among others; affecting 707
households in the district, according to Ogogol.
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More than 2,000 Local Defense Unit, LDU personnel were trained by the Ministry
of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries on how to spray locusts with hand
pump sprayers.
At least 22 billion shillings was released by the government to
combat locusts’ invasion in the country.
The government had moved swiftly to enlist the services of the
UPDF soldiers to spray locusts manually but as fears of more swarms invading
the country engulfed, it prompted officials to outsource for two aircraft to
implement aerial spray.
In February, Mehari Tesafayohannes, the Chief Information and Forecasting
Officer for the Desert Locust Control Organization for East Africa, DLCO- EA
told leaders from local governments affected by the locusts’ invasion that the
use of aircraft to spray desert locusts was an expensive venture.
But government proceeded to hire the specialized aircraft that was delivered to
Moroto Airfield on February 22nd, 2020, ready to start surveillance and
spraying of desert locusts that had already been sighted in 24 districts of
Karamoja, Teso, Parts of Acholi, Lango and Sebei. The plane, however, flew for
a few days before it lay redundant due to the absence of chemicals used for aerial
spraying.
Edward Eninu
Freelancer