• The CS said the shortage was caused by long procurement procedures and the rapid spread of the pests.
• Last week, FAO received Sh1.3 billion to buy more chemicals and scale up the control operations.
Image: FILE
The government is running out of the pesticides to kill locusts because the swarms have bred and spread to more counties, Agriculture CS Peter Munya has said.
Munya said the shortage was caused by the long procurement procedures and the rapid spread of the pests.
“However, we have moved to resolve this so more chemicals should be on the way," he said at Kilimo House yesterday when he flagged off vehicles for the Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture project to the counties.
The CS further said a team to assess the damage already caused will begin work after the invasion has been stopped.
The government is currently using fenitrothion 96% ULV and malathion 95% ULV to spray the locusts.
The chemicals are procured through the Food and Agriculture Organization.
FAO officials had warned against fenitrothion 96% ULV, which is banned in the European Union because it is highly toxic to birds, honeybees and aquatic invertebrates like snails and moderately toxic to fish, algae and earthworms.
Many FAO officials were for the less toxic chlorpyrifos 24% ULV.
However, FAO's head of Desert Locust Information Service Keith Creissman says fenitrothion is safe for Kenya when applied in small quantities.
"We have had no reports of incidents in other countries. Australian Plague Locusts Commission also confirms this. Obviously, care must be taken not to spray any chemicals in areas where there are beekeepers," he says, according to documents seen by Star at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Last week, the United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released Sh1.3 billion to FAO to buy more chemicals and scale up the control operations.
The money will help Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, who are most affected. This is the worst invasion for Kenya in 70 years and 25 years for Somalia and Ethiopia.
FAO had made an initial appeal for Sh7 billion to assist with immediate needs in all three countries.
FAO said due to forecast rainy conditions that are favourable to locusts breeding, their numbers could swell and they spill over into South Sudan and Uganda.
Yesterday, in a five-day forecast, the Meteorological department said rains will continue this week, providing lush green leaves that locusts prefer.
"Right now is a critical moment in preventing a future food crisis, as rains in March and April could cause the locust infestations to grow even more in scale and reach," FAO said.
The Desert Locust is among the most dangerous migratory pests in the world.
A single locust can travel 150km and eat its own weight – about two grams – in food each day. Just one small swarm has the potential to consume in one day an amount of food that could feed 35,000 people.
Yesterday, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, a trained botanist and zoologist, advised farmers not to harvest crops in rush.
"Locusts don't eat maize and other hard grains, they only eat the leaves," he said.