Professor John Nderitu of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Nairobi has advised the government to deploy an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach that includes biological, mechanical and chemical control to bring under control the desert locust invasion quickly getting out of hand.
“Locusts are now in my farm. They are feeding on my trees and they are spreading fast,” said Isaack Ndung’u, a farmer in Kirinyaga. He said the locusts first landed on the fence on Sunday evening and started spreading to the maize farm.
Earlier in the month of December the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the locusts may spread to other East African countries if measures were not taken to stop the invasion and true to their words and speculation the locusts are now spreading to various parts of the country and currently now in Kirinyaga.
Locust invasions are among the biggest threat to agriculture. The insects that travel in huge numbers can destroy large tracks of farms in a short period of time, leaving residents at risk of famine and starvation.
With the current unpredictable weather patterns where farmers are not sure when to plant due to the failure of the metrological department being unable to issue a workable weather forecast as opposed of the norms that we Kenyans are used to, and with the introduction of the now locusts invasion, we indeed as Kenyans could be staring at a great risk of famine and starvation.
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