The desert locust control team has since February protected 370,000 acres of crops from the destructive insects.
Food and Agriculture Organisation director of Emergency and Resilience Dominique Burgeon said on Monday an estimated 350,000 tonnes of cereals have been saved from locusts.
“The control efforts by FAO in collaboration with the Kenyan government has been able to protect over 150,000 pastoralist households against the impacts of the desert locust infestation," Burgeon said.
He spoke during a media briefing at Kilimo House on the efforts to mitigate the effects of the desert locust invasion.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya said locust remnants are only in Turkana and Samburu counties.
The destructive insects locusts were first reported in Mandera in December 2019. By March, they had spread to Marsabit, Garissa, Wajir, Isiolo, Meru, Kitui, Machakos, Samburu, Baringo, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Makueni.
They were also in Laikipia, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kajiado, Kericho, Nyandarua, Uasin Gishu, Kisumu and Kakamega.
“There have been about four swarms of desert locusts reported in some isolated pockets of Turkana and Samburu counties particularly in Sugat valley which is hilly and difficult for the control team to access. But the control team is working to ensure that they contain the desert locusts,” Munya said.
FAO senior locust forecasting officer Keith Cressman said the country is not out of the woods yet because locusts are migratory and hard to control.
“This is because it is difficult to find and treat all of the swarms at the same time. The strategy is to reduce them at a low level. We have seen good progress in reducing them to low level in Kenya in the last three months.
"But we still have them around and the current weather is conducive for the locusts to stay around,” Cressman said.
He said everybody should work together at all levels including community, county and national because locusts do not know borders.
“We have also leant the importance of data collection so that it is easy to control them. We are not out of the woods yet but I am confident they will be managed,” he said.
- mwaniki fm
