• The overall goal of the platform is to strengthen synergies, sustained management and control of desert locusts and other transboundary pests in the IGAD region.
• The swarms started crossing the border into Kenya from Ethiopia and Somalia and had spread to 28 counties by February 2020.
Image: FAO
Kenya is set to benefit from a USD3 million grant from the World Bank to manage desert locust invasion.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development-IGAD has signed a three year Sh326.4 million grant with the World Bank to set up an Inter-Regional Platform for the Sustainable Management of Desert Locusts and other Trans-Boundary Pests.
The grant is part of the World Bank's Emergency Locust Response Program Phase 3 (SSELRP) and is expected to run until August 2024.
According to a statement from IGAD, the overall goal of the platform is to strengthen synergies, sustained management and control of desert locusts and other transboundary pests in the IGAD region.
“The platform will be extended not only to IGAD member states but to all countries affected by the desert locusts and other transboundary pests. Operationalization of the platform will be conducted in partnership with the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) and the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC),” the statement read.
Kenya’s desert locust invasion, the worst in 70 years was reported in Mandera in December 2019.
The swarms started crossing the border into Kenya from Ethiopia and Somalia and had spread to 28 counties by February 2020.
The UN reported that the locusts mainly affected the northern region of the country posing a severe food security threat to about three million people.
The next generation started forming swarms in April 2020, which coincided with the start of the long rains season which is the main planting season for East Africa.
FAO desert locust situation update released on Friday indicated that in the past week, only a very few mature swarms have been detected in northeast Ethiopia, while several swarms remain immature on the plateau in northwest Somalia.
“The prevailing strong winds and cool temperatures have limited swarm activity in northwest Somalia as well as control operations, which are just now increasing as the winds have dropped in the past few days. No control has been carried out in Ethiopia due to a lack of targets and some areas could not be surveyed because of persistent accessibility issues,” said FAO.
The locust further indicated that good rains have fallen in northeast Ethiopia and parts of southern Djibouti that have caused conditions to become favourable for breeding.
FAO advised that it is now critical for ground and aerial teams to find and treat any remaining mature swarms before they lay eggs to limit breeding.
“But it will also be necessary to prepare for eventual control operations against hopper bands that will form once hatching takes place later this month, especially in those areas where breeding could not be detected. Nevertheless, the upcoming breeding and control operations are expected to be on a much smaller scale than in the past two years and will be concentrated mainly in the Afar region,” said FAO.
LOCUST INVASION TIMELINES
January 2021: Numerous swarms continue to invade S Ethiopia and N+C Kenya and a few to NE Tanzania; swarms move to NE Ethiopia and Eritrea; swarms move from Yemen to Saudi Arabia; more breeding in N Somalia and the Red Sea coast, primarily Saudi Arabia.
February 2021: Swarms remain immature and decline in Kenya and Ethiopia; a few swarms in NE Tanzania; more swarms form in N Somalia; swarms form on Saudi Arabia Red Sea coast and move inland to spring breeding areas and lay.
March 2021: Swarms continue to decline due to control operations and poor rains in the Horn of Africa as upsurge eases; laying, hatching and band formation in Saudi Arabia interior; a few swarms migrate to SW Iran via Kuwait.
April 2021: Swarms end in Kenya but rains in Ethiopia and NW Somalia all swarms to mature; mature groups and swarmlets move N from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Sinai (Egypt).
My 2021: Hatching and bands form in E Ethiopia and N Somalia; immature adult groups form in C Saudi Arabia and a few move S; local hatching and few bands in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria.
June 2021: Swarms start to form at mid-month in NW Somalia and some in E Ethiopia and Djibouti; a few swarms from N Saudi Arabia reach N Yemen.
July 2021: Limited swarms arrive in NE Ethiopia with good rains; swarms decline in NW Somalia.