Embu county legislators, on Saturday, March 22, raised the alarm that the ferocious insects were ravaging through the tea plantations in Kyeni North area of the county.
Kagaari South MCA Robert Ireri, while speaking to the press, lamented over what he termed as neglect by the national government ever since the Coronavirus outbreak in Kenya.
A resident of Kijaci at Gatunga Ward in Tharaka Constituency, Tharaka-Nithi County, makes his way through a swarm of locusts at a farm on February 1, 2020.
Daily Nation
“The lack of goodwill exhibited by the government was telling of how prepared the country was in dealing with disasters of national magnitude,” he stated.
Ireri took at a swipe at the national government, stating that it was ironic for the government to appear to only focus on combating the Coronavirus outbreak, wheen it had failed to handle the locust invasion.
His sentiments were echoed by Evurore MCA Duncan Mbui, who went on to lament that the county’s main source of income – agriculture – was now under serious threat from the insects.
Mbui disclosed that another huge swarm of locusts was currently moving through Kavengero and Karigiri villages after crossing over from Kathunguri and Kigumo.
“Locals have no other options than to eat these locusts since it feels like the government has abandoned all efforts to eradicate them,” he stated.
He went on to blame Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya over what he termed as lopsided priorities and total neglect of the plight of farmers who had no other source of livelihood.
The MCA further claimed that the insects had now mutated and were now resistant to noise that used to ward them off in the past, adding that they seem to have settled to living in the highlands region.
On its part, the government announced that the fight against locusts has been hit by a shortage of pesticides following the suspension of flights worldwide.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga, revealed that it was currently practically impossible to procure the right chemicals for locust spraying given that many countries have closed their borders in efforts to control the spread of the deadly Covid-19.
A farmer walks by a swarm of desert locusts in Kenya in January 2020
File
The Guardian
