THREAT OF LOCUSTS IN NORTHERN TANZANIA OVER

 

Fears of havoc on the crop fields by desert locusts in northern Tanzania are over, at least for now. 

Swarms of the insects spotted in Longido district, Arusha region over the weekend have been brought under control.

"There are neither seen flying nor devouring vegetation on the ground"  said the deputy minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe on Tuesday. 

He told journalists at Kimokouwa village in Longido that the much feared locusts no longer posed a threat after hours of aerial spraying. 

Spraying, which was extended to Simanjiro district in neighbouring Manyara region, commenced only on Tuesday.

This followed the arrival in the area  of an aircraft requested from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). 

Mr. Bashe said spraying was initially concentrated on a 39 square kilometre site at Kimakouwa village, where large swarms were sighted.

The highly toxic Fenitrothion chemicals supplied by the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI) simply wiped out the gregarious insects. 

The deputy minister said the locusts were first spotted on February 16th crossing into Longido district from Kenya. 

However, he stated that the ministry received information as early as January on the presence of the insects in Mwanga district, Kilimanjaro region.

"TPRI experts were immediately deployed to the area", he said, adding that the government is keen to ensure there was no widespread damage to crops. 

Mr. Bashe directed that although the locusts posed no major threat now, the experts should remain on the ground to closely monitor the situation.

A scientific expert with TPRI Julius Mkenda said a total of 412 hectares in Longido district had been sprayed by Tuesday noon. 

The exercise was later extended to  the semi-arid Simanjiro which shares the same ecological characteristics with Longido but now evergreen due to the current rains.

A Tanzania country  office FAO representative Mushobozi Baitani  said the UN body would support member countries to thwart the locust threat.

FAO has been battling with the locusts after invasion in several Horn of Africa countries, notably Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia since last year. 

The Longido District Commissioner Frank Mwaisumbe said swift intervention by the government has allawyed fears on the locusts.

The minister for Agriculture Prof Adolf Mkenda was in the district on Sunday alongside his permanent secretary Gerald Kusaya. 

Mr. Mwaisume, however, played down fears, saying the highly mobile insects have not caused much damage to the crops and the vegetation.

"Samples taken indicate they are still in the non-feeding pupal stage. Once destroyed the battle will be almost over", he said. 

Scores of experts from the ministry of Agriculture have been to Longido since Friday last week after reports emerged on the presence of locusts.

In February 2020, the FAO announced that desert locusts are destroying tens of thousands of hectares of crops and grazing land in north east Africa in the worst invasion in 25 years. 

The UN warns that a dangerous situation is now facing the region and in particular eastern Ethiopia.^[8] Since this announcement, swarms have caused Somalia to declare a state of emergency^[9] and spread to other East African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,^[10] and most recently South Sudan