The desert locusts on Sunday entered Uganda through Northern Uganda, in the Karamoja sub-region.
These deadly species had been in Western part of Kenya for some weeks.
The Prime Minister of Uganda, Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda hastily convened an emergency meeting to respond to this disaster.
“I have called an emergency meeting of relevant political leaders and technical at 7pm tonight to immediately swing into action with the preparedness interventions we have been planning to deal with,” Rugunda announced.
They entered AMUDAT District through Abwalinga and Ngongosowon villages of AMUDAT Sub county.
Here is what you should know about locusts;
The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) locally known as emaathe, enzige, enzigye is a swarming short horned grasshopper in the Acrididae family.
As the world’s most dangerous migratory pest species, the desert locust reproduces rapidly, migrates over long distances and has the ability to change their behavior and appearance under particular environmental conditions.
The desert locust is herbivorous and can stay in one place for 17 hours and if
strong enough can range 3,000 miles in their lifetime and an average of
50- 300km per day.
A swarm size of a square kilometer devours 100-160 tons of vegetation (crops&pasture) per day.
Locust movement is determined by wind patterns and vegetation availability and primarily feeds on green vegetation.
Locusts can multiply 10-20 times per generation and an adult female will lay up to 900 in 3 months.
An adult locust eats an amount approximately its weight of 2-3gms per day.
They feed on virtually on anything green from crops, pastureland and
forest cover.
These Locusts migrate in swarms of between 40 – 80 million insects, some swarms of a billion insects have also been reported.
