Crop devouring desert locusts sighted in Nwoya Gardens

Nwoya, Uganda  | THE INDEPENDENT |  Nwoya has become the latest District in Acholi sub region to report an existence of the crop-devouring desert locusts, albeit on a small scale. 

The deadly insects were randomly sighted in Got Lunyang and Aol ki Lyec villages in Lutuk Parish, Kochgoma Sub County; Obira village in Anaka Sub County, Purongo Sub-County and Nwoya District headquarters on Wednesday and Thursday.

David Akena Omal, the LCI Chairperson of Lutuk village says that the residents spotted the insects in potato and cassava gardens, trees and bushes around their homesteads. He adds that a team of officers from the Entomology Department visited the village and caged samples of the insects which were later confirmed to be desert locusts. 

Kochgoma sub-county Chairperson, John Bosco Okullu, told URN that the insects were first sighted on Tuesday afternoon but the residents couldn’t easily confirm if they belonged to the same family of migratory insects that have devastated the greater Horn of Africa in recent months.

Nwoya Resident District Commissioner Agnes Akello Ebong said technical persons and Disaster Management teams have been holding meetings  to strategize on how to combat the locusts. 

On Sunday , swarms of the desert locusts entered Uganda through districts of Amudat and later spread to Abim, Kotido, Nakipiripirit, and Katakwi in  Karamjoja and Teso sub regions after devouring several parts of Kenya and causing food scarcities. Early this week the insects were reported in Kitgum and Agago districts in Acholi sub region.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), locust plagues occur intermittently in the Horn of Africa. The Organization revealed the current invasion is the worst in 25 years.

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URN

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