08 Oct 2020

Chief plant protection officer in the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Ms Velleminah Pelokgale says control of the African migratory locust requires combined efforts of all stakeholders and communities.

Ms Pelokgale made the remarks at a workshop with district representatives currently affected by the African migratory locust in Maun on Wednesday.

She said locust control should not be the responsibility of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security alone, as they destroyed forests and national parks.

She observed that Botswana initially identified signs of the African migratory locust, which was at hatchery stage and was successfully controlled in February. 

However, she said the second wave, which was imported from neighbouring countries, was later identified, saying Botswana was not aware that Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia had cases.

She therefore said Botswana was working closely with other countries and had been assisted with P5 million by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to address the problem in the four countries. 

Ms Pelokgale added that Botswana continued to seek further funding since controlling the locust required more human resources, equipment, chemicals and vehicles.

Further, she said the North West region received reports of another swam of the African migratory locust at Mababe as of Tuesday.

She said Botswana was prepared for a third wave of the African migratory locust, as it had happened with the other countries, something she said was a first since the country had been experiencing locust invasions once a year, in a period of about 10 years.

Plant protection division head of pest control, Mr Kuate Sebua said the regions that were currently affected by the African migratory locust were Central, North West, Chobe and Gantsi.

Mr Sebua said some challenges in the management of locust were presence of wildlife during spraying, difficulty in spraying in fields where broadcast sowing method had been used as well as inadequate resources. Ends