Agriculture CS Peter Munya now says the ministry is happy about the efforts put in place by county locust coordination team to control and curb the emerging risks.
Munya said though the insects pose real threat to countrywide food security, the necessary mitigation measures were already in place to curb the impact of the deadly pests.
Speaking when he paid a visit to Garissa Governor Ali Korane at his residence yesterday, the CS said his tour of the county was based on monitoring and strengthening local support.
He said mitigation on negative environmental and social impact associated with use of pesticides was a major concern but the chemicals used to spray the insects were approved after it was found to be ‘effective and safe’.
“We shall continue monitoring to improve the capacity of the counties and ensure active programs are in place for both locust and drought mitigation,” Munya said.
Governor Korane urged the national government to strengthen the county’s capacity to carry out surveillance, monitoring and control of the second wave of desert locust in the region.
Korane said the county locust coordination team responded well to the first invasion that had minimal devastation.
The governor said the new invasion has already been reported in Nanighi, Kamuthe, Garissa Township Sub county and surveillance was on-going within the potential sites in Dadaab, Balambala and Fafi sub counties.
He however thanked the response and support from the national government which includes surveillance stand-by helicopters, well strategically free control aircraft, trained desert locust control team and four KDF vehicles mounted with sprayers.
The Governor also raised pastoralists’ potential concerns on impacts of the pesticides on the environmental, human and livestock health.
Present were Garissa County Commissioner Meru Mwangi, County Secretary Abdi Sheikh, CEC Agriculture Mohamed Shale, Garissa NDMA coordinator Abdinoor Dubow among other county and national government officials from the county locust coordination team.
By Jacob Songok
