Government has secured shs7billion on top of 15b that was earlier released to help in the fight against desert locusts.

Desert locusts entered Uganda on Sunday through Amudat and have since advanced to more than six districts.

According to Steven Twibejuka, the commissioner crop protection in the Ministry of Agriculture, the 15b has already been used up in just three days of the mission.

sh11b, he says, was paid as subscription fee for the Desert Locust Control Organisation of East Africa ((DLCO-EA). This was after the body threatened not to offer any support to Uganda as regards to the fight against the desert locusts. The balance according to Twibejuka was used to spray locusts and transport equipment used.

“Part of this money was to pay part of our arrears with the locust organisation and one expert has already arrived and will work with the national experts to combat locusts. The chemicals used for aircraft are different types. One of the types is between $35 (Shs127, 000) and $50 (Shs181,000) per litre. Another type, which we sourced from Japan is about $125 (Shs453,700) per litre, which can cover about one to two hectares,” he added.

He also revealed that a meeting had been convened by the cabinet on Monday to discuss ways on how to control the locusts “The Cabinet on Monday advised that more Shs7b should be mobilised for aircraft activities. You know these activities of running the aircraft are very expensive because paying the pilots is similar to the ones who fly commercial flights.”

Currently, the task force that was set up to spray and control locusts from spreading further has run short of chemicals according to reports.