UPDF Deploys 2500 Soldiers,20000 Litres Of Pesticides To Fight Locusts In Karamoja

Government has dispatched more that 20000 litres of pesticides to Amudat district in Karamoja sub-region to aid the aerial spraying of locusts that entered Uganda through the northwest Pokot area on Sunday.

The chemicals were loaded and airlifted this morning from Kololo airstrip by ministry of Agriculture and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) personnel to combat the ravaging pests which have already destroyed acres of vegetation specifically in Okorikeya and Loro villages.The locusts entered Uganda yesterday at around 3.00 pm through Amudat, Nabilatuk and Nakapiripirit districts in Karamoja sub-region that share a common border with Kenya.

Government had earlier announced that three types of chemicals will be used for spraying the locusts, which are also plaguing other East African countries including Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya as well as Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.The chemicals to be sprayed include Fenitrothion 96 per cent low volume formulation, which is a phosphorothioate insecticide, Malathion, an organophosphate insecticide commonly used to control mosquitoes and a variety of insects that attack fruits, vegetables, landscaping plants, and shrubs as well as Pyrethroid a special chemical class often used by pest management professionals.

Yesterday, state minister for Agriculture Aggrey Bagiire said that ministry of Agriculture has already prepared both manual and automatic pumps for dispatch early morning to Karamoja. He discloses further that they have in stock the chemicals for spraying some using motorized spray pumps and others manual. u.r.n