| Farmers of every crop type including livestock are being urged to make plans to deal with the potential locust plague that spread from Somalia across Wajir, and has already devoured tens of thousands of acres around Marsabit and have now made their way to Meru and Isiolo counties even as government officials downplayed their threat. |
On Tuesday evening, residents of Ndumuru in Igembe North reported spotting several colonies of the destructive pests. More swarms of the locusts have also invaded neighboring Garbatulla and Merti areas in Isiolo County.
Efforts to control the infestation have so far not been effective.
Co-ordinated approach or not, there are steps individual farmers can take to reduce the risk to their own crops, including having the right insecticides in store ready to apply BEFORE the pests hits. Some products have a persistence of up to a week even at Ultra Low Volume, so given the speed that the swarms have moved already, it would be wise to be pre-empting their arrival at any time.
A spray application over as much of the shamba as is practically possible, either with a tractor sprayer or an aeroplane, will buy valuable time, and better to be a week early than a day late. Contact a crop consulting team for specific independent advice on products, rates and application techniques.
