Uganda has been hit by a swarm of desert locusts which entered the country through Karamoja sub-region.

The desert locusts which were fist sighted in Amudat and are spreading quickly to other districts.

On Sunday, government officials held a meeting to devise measures on how to prevent the locusts from going further and further.

According to Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, the country is prepared to handle the situation. The PM has called for calm.

“I have called an emergency meeting of relevant political leaders & technical officers @OPMUganda at 7 pm tonight to immediately swing into action with the preparedness interventions we have been planning to deal with #DesertLocusts,” Prime Minister, Ruhakana tweeted.

Locusts have for the past couple of months been destroying vegetation in Kenya. They crossed to Uganda from a village in Kenya called Koskei.

Locusts travel in dense, crackling swarms which can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometre.

Response

The Uganda People’s Defense Forces is expected to airlift pesticides and spray pumps to Amudat. The Government is also said to have released 15b for the acquisition of chemicals, deployment of troops as well as hiring aircraft for aerial and hand spraying.