The World bank will give Kenya an additional Sh1.4 billion ($14 million) to deal with the desert locust menace in the country.
The funds which are drawn from the Contingency Emergency Response Component of Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project are set to see Kenya through these trying times.
The planes were donated by by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this brings the tally of airplanes donated by FAO to 5 since January.
According to FAO, young locusts, called nymphs, have been sighted in 134 sites in Samburu, Isiolo (28 sites), Tharaka Nithi (16), Kitui (14), Turkana (four), Marsabit (three), Garissa (two) and Embu (one) counties.
“There is an urgent need to intensify aerial and ground desert locust control activities. We are very grateful for the incoming donor response to this Level 3 emergency that is enabling us to support the Kenyan government to upscale response actions,” FAO representative to Kenya Dr Tobias Takavarasha said.
These are counties that are very vast geographically, and aerial control is the most effective course of action for the mature and immature swarms that continue to come in from Ethiopia and Somalia. From the tracking tool that FAO is using to monitor the movements of desert locusts, the pattern shows that they are heading there.”
Over 3.1 million people are facing acute food insecurity due to the uncontrolled breeding of these desert locusts
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