Gov't Fighting Desert Locust Inflicting Damage on Afar Regional State

Addis Ababa, September  4/2020( ENA)Afar Regional State is working in collaboration with the federal government to fight the desert locust that has infested all five zones, Chief Administrator of the state said. 

Afar Regional State Chief Administrator, Awol Arba who visited the affected zones said the state and the federal government are fighting the swarm with helicopters and vehicles.

The chief administrator also called on neighboring regional states to collaborate in the effort to prevent the locust outbreak before it causes more serious damage.

Animal and Plant Health Director at the Agriculture and Livestock Development Bureau of the region, Abdulqadr Mohammed said the locust damages fodder and crops on which the majority pastoralist and semi-pastoralist inhabitants of the region depend on.

The desert locust has completely destroyed fodder and crops over 240,000 hectares of land, he added.

In related news, Tigray Regional State said it is replacing crops damaged by desert locust in the Southern Zone of the state with quick maturing ones.

Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate at the zone, Haile Tadele said the swarm has damaged 2,000 hectares of land covered with teff, wheat and barley crops this season, affecting the farmlands of 3,000 farmers.

The bureau has, therfore, been working to recover the farmlands with quick maturing crops and use irrigation schemes.

He pointed out that the state has succeed in containing the spread of the locust swarm to other zones.