"If both the county and national governments fail to act with speed to kill these young locusts when they are still unable to fly, then we will be doomed," Ngungu said on Sunday.
Maseki assistant chief Paul Katee on Friday said the nymphs started hatching a week ago and had taken over farmland covering a radius of four kilometres.
"The yellow adult locust invaded my farm and others in the neighborhood nearly three weeks ago and devoured almost everything. And, to make matters worse, they camped there and started mating. The result is the millions of black nymphs now in the farms," Beatrice Nzoka said.
She called for speedy spraying of the farms. "Otherwise it will be futile for us to even imagine planting crops in the March season because these ravenous insects will eat up everything."
Two weeks ago, the locust started breeding in Kyoea and Maseki areas with the government announcing it had run out of pesticides.
Kitui Deputy Governor Wathe Nzau said the locust invasion was threatening to become endemic.
He called for emergency measures to deal with the malignant locust invasion.
“Mature locusts are mating and laying eggs by inserting abdomen under the ground. The eggs will hatch in 21 days and nymphs will ravage all vegetation as they are wingless and unable to fly,” Nzau said in a statement.
He warned that locust eggs were able to remain dormant for years and hatch only when conditions are favourable.
