• The state has imposed a curfew running from 7 pm to 5 am.
• On Monday, the government announced that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases had risen to 50.
Image: FILE
The fight against the ferocious desert locust is now in limbo following the measures put in place to contain the coronavirus disease.
The Food and Agricultural Organization, a UN agency, said in a statement that the crew-flying aircraft that have been procured were fortunate enough to have been flown in before stringent measures were put in place to fight the virus.
The FAO is currently supporting the operation of five planes in Ethiopia and Kenya.
"While Covid-19 has not directly impacted these crews, it has prompted concerns among aircraft companies and reduced the number of responsive offers to FAO tenders for additional planes," FAO emergency and resilience division director Dominique Burgeon said.
On Monday, the government announced that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases had risen to 50. The government has announced a raft of measures to curb the virus. They include mandatory quarantine of 14 days for those coming into the country from the affected countries.
Further, the state has imposed a curfew running from 7 pm to 5 am.
Similarly, Burgeon said, the Covid-19 pandemic has also affected the supply of pesticides, with delays already experienced because of reduced manpower and the postponement of the delivery of purchased orders. Burgeon said confinement measures may also impact the organisation’s plans to deploy technical experts to the field.
"To meet these challenges, FAO is already exploring all possible options to avoid any shortfall in the supply of pesticides and any gaps in personnel," he said.
Burgeon said control and surveillance operations within the countries affected by the desert locust upsurge have not been interrupted, thanks to the fact that governments are prioritising such activities. However, he said, confinement measures may delay the arrival of eight additional helicopters and flying crews, which FAO has engaged for further surveillance actions.
He said they are committed during this challenging time to keeping their partners informed of this developing situation.
"With the Covid-19 pandemic potentially impacting control and surveillance operations, as well as the deployment of experts to the field, your continued support is greatly appreciated to help safeguard the livelihoods of people living in desert locust-affected regions," he said.
The Horn of Africa is currently experiencing the worst desert locust upsurge in a quarter of a century. In response, FAO has been making every effort to support government-led control and surveillance operations, as well as livelihood interventions, in the affected countries.
These efforts have, nevertheless, been complicated by the Covid-19 crisis. Kenya has already received Sh1.4 billion and three additional aircraft to fight locusts. The money was given by the World Bank, while the planes were donated by the FAO early March.
In total, FAO has given Kenya five aircraft since January. The locusts are still advancing to more counties. Early March, swarms were spotted coming from Ethiopia and Somalia.
"The World Bank has activated disbursement of $14 million (Sh1.4 billion) to enhance control of desert locust invasion Kenya," the bank said March 15.
The funds are drawn from the contingency emergency response component of the Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project, a World Bank-supported programme which ends in 2022.
Principal Secretary for State Department for Crops Development and Agriculture Research Hamadi Boga said the planes will be deployed to Isiolo, Turkana and Marsabit counties.
According to FAO, young locusts, called nymphs, have been sighted in 134 sites in Samburu, Isiolo (28 sites), Tharaka Nithi (16), Kitui (14), Turkana (four), Marsabit (three), Garissa (two) and Embu (one) counties.
With more than 3.1 million people facing acute food insecurity in semi-arid areas of Kenya, uncontrolled breeding of desert locusts poses the risk of the decimation of crops grown at the germination stage as well as the loss of pasture, FAO says.
A total of 26,995 litres of pesticides have been procured and distributed for use to control the locusts since January.
FAO said it will further support the government’s desert locust control measures by training 30 trainers of trainers between March 16-21, who will then train 900 local operations teams in the affected counties from March 23-25.
The 900 trainees will be responsible for actual ground surveillance and control activities and will play a critical role in relaying data to the control bases.