The revelation was made on Friday by Aggrey Bagiire, the State Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries during a press briefing at the Ugandan media centre.

Bagiire during the press briefing on Friday

Bagiire revealed that the ministry of agriculture is now seeking Shs5 billion to cater for aircraft fuel, pesticides for control, provide for ground spray equipment and spray teams and to continuously create awareness to the population in case of an invasion.

The Minister says due to  security situation in Somalia and North Eastern Kenya (Mandera and Garissa Counties) and other factors, there are still large locusts’ swarms observed from Somalia and Ethiopia with further spread inside Kenya.

Since the current control capacity is limited, some of the swarms could move further Western into Turkana County, probably by Mid-January 2020, with likely potential and risk that some swarms could spill over into the North Eastern region of Uganda, particularly Karamoja region (borders Turkana County).

Uganda is a member of the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO EA) and is currently closely working and sharing information on the current status of the desert Locust in the Region.
A technical team of 2 (Two) officers have been assigned to travel to Kenya (Wajir and Marsabit counties) to understudy the current Locust control operations to subsequently share experiences and support the control efforts in Uganda (in case of any outbreak).

Bagiire however, says  the country should not to panic because there is  vigilance following up developments and control efforts in Kenya. In case of any outbreak, we are ready to handle it.

What has caused these locusts?

The second half of the year 2019 recorded unusually high rains in most parts of Eastern Africa that had not been seen in many years. These rains incidentally fell also in the semi-arid traditional Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) breeding ecological areas of Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The favourable conditions facilitated further locusts breeding, multiplication and spread in to Kenya.

Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a species of short- horned grasshopper family. It is characterized by its nature of high mobility (migratory) and broad spectrum feeding habits.

Desert locusts could move into Uganda and South Sudan

Locusts have ability to alter their behavior, colour, size and shape. When the population density is low, locusts behave as individuals, when the population is high, they swarm and migrate. The locust life cycle comprises three stages of egg, hopper and adult and it lives a total of 3 to 6 months.

“In Solitary phase, the Desert Locust lives individual life until it rains with availability of vegetation, the females lay eggs. Desert Locusts usually fly with the wind and swarms can travel between 5-150 km or more a day depending on weather conditions and normally taking off 2-3 hrs after sunrise in warm weather and 4-6 hrs in cool weather.
1.1.3 Locust feeding habits,” Bagiire explains.

Locust swarms vary from less than one km2 to several hundred km2. There can be at least 40 to 80 million locusts in each km2 of swarm. Coupled with its amazing ability to build up and multiply to colossal numbers, a locust can eat its own weight in fresh food (about 2 gm/day). Half million locusts weigh about 1 ton and they can eat about 1 ton of food enough to feed 2500 people.

A motorist passes through a swarm of locusts in Kenya

An Ethiopian Airline B737-700 (ET-ALN) encountered a grasshopper swarm on approach to Dire Dawa Airport (HACR).The pilots discountinued the approach and the ET363 instead diverted safely to Addis Ababa.

An Ethiopian airline that was forced to cancel its destination due to a swam of desert locusts

Plane route

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the region is suffering it’s worst invasion for decades. Kenya says it is facing an “unprecedented threat” from desert locusts in its worst invasion for 70 years.

Swarms of the insects have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia and are threatening food production and grazing land, said Kenya’s agriculture minister, Mwangi Kiunjuri.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said last month that the species of grasshopper had already destroyed more than 175,000 acres of farmland in Somalia and Ethiopia, posing the worst threat for seven decades.        Because much of Somalia is engulfed in conflict, spraying pesticides from the air has become impossible, the agency added.
There is a risk that the swarms could move into Kenya’s neighbours Uganda and South Sudan, the FAO said.

The locusts crossed into Kenya a few days after Christmas and have spread to the counties of Garissa, Isiolo and Samburu to the south and west, Mr Kiunjuri said.

“We recognise that the pest invasion, and the potential to spread rapidly to other counties poses an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihood in the country,” he commented.
The FAO said that while locusts are expected to breed in Somalia this month, there is less chance of that happening in Kenya.

But what are the possible benefits of locusts

According to a 2015  study of researchers on insects, desert locusts could boost food security and offer protection against chronic diseases.

In the study published in PLOS One , researchers based in Kenya and the United States assessed whether locusts contain high levels of chemicals known as phytosterols that could control heart-related diseases.

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The WHO says non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, diabetes and asthma kill about 28 million people a year in low- and middle-income countries, including those in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Baldwyn Torto, a scientist with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya, who led the study, says that phytosterols block the absorption of cholesterol, a chemical which increases one’s risk of getting heart and other cardiovascular diseases.

“They are also rich in proteins, fatty acids and minerals that boost immunity, fight cancer and prevent inflammation of body organs.”

Baldwyn Torto, The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)

He adds: “They are also rich in proteins, fatty acids and minerals that boost immunity, fight cancer and prevent inflammation of body organs.”

Kate Kibarah, a clinical nutritionist in Kenya, says that food sources which contribute to the fight against non-communicable diseases should be promoted, adding that based on the findings of the study, desert locusts as a food source should be promoted.

Kibarah notes that many Africans are now dealing with ailments such as hypertension and cancers due to sedentary lifestyles and bad dietary habits.

“Instead of consuming fast foods all the time, we should eat quality food with nutrients that help us to ward off deadly diseases,” Kibarah says. “People should also exercise to keep fit.”

The WHO states that strong evidence demonstrates that compared to less active adult men and women, individuals who are more active have lower rates of all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancer and depression.

According to the researchers, although plants are generally the richest sources of phytosterols, insects such as locusts that feed on them can provide alternative sources for these nutrient-rich compounds to humans.

The study found that after 200-250 desert locusts —  Schistocerca gregaria — reared in icipe were fed on wheat seedlings and wheat bran, they consumed the phytosterols from these plants and amplified them, thus resulting in the insects having higher amounts of phytosterols compared to the wheat.

Locusts can also be used as animal feeds as the contain a lot of proteins that are valuable especially to birds.

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Maize gardens in some parts of Kenya have completely dried up.

rought throughout East Africa that has sharply curbed harvests and pushed the prices of cereals and other staple foods to unusually high levels, posing a heavy burden to households and special risks for pastoralists in the region, according to a press statement.

Local prices of maize, sorghum and other cereals are near or at record levels in swathes of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, according to the latest Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin (FPMA).

Inadequate rainfall in most areas of the sub-region has put enormous strain on livestock and their keepers. Poor livestock body conditions due to pasture and water shortages and forcible culls mean animals command lower prices, leaving pastoralists with even less income to purchase basic foodstuffs.

“Sharply increasing prices are severely constraining food access for large numbers of households with alarming consequences in terms of food insecurity,” said Mario Zappacosta, FAO senior economist and coordinator of the Global Information and Early Warning System.

The trends in East Africa, where prices of staple cereals have doubled in some town markets, stand in marked contrast to the stable trend of FAO’s Food Price Index, which measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of traded food commodities.

Water for animals has become scarce leading to the death of a number of animals.

The difference is due to the drought that is hammering the sub-region, where food stocks were already depleted by the strong El Niño weather event that ended only last year. Poor and erratic rainfall in recent months, crucial for local growing seasons, is denting farm output.

Somalia’s maize and sorghum harvests are estimated to be 75 percent down from their usual level, and some 6.2 million people, more than half of the country’s total population, now face acute food insecurity, with the majority of those most affected living in rural areas.

Soaring prices

The FPMA Bulletin tracks food price trends on a granular level and in local terms, with an eye to flagging instances where the prices of essential food commodities increase sharply or are abnormally high.

In Mogadishu, prices of maize increased by 23 percent in January, and. the increase was even sharper in the main maize producing region of Lower Shabelle. Overall, in key market towns of central and southern Somalia, coarse grain prices in January have doubled from a year earlier.With an earlier than usual depletion of household stocks during the coming lean season and preliminary weather forecasts raising concerns for the performance of the next rainy season, prices are likely to further escalate in the coming months.

Maize prices in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, have almost doubled since early 2016, while they are 25 percent higher than 12 months earlier in the country’s largest city, Dar Es Salaam.

In South Sudan, food prices are now two to four times above their levels of a year earlier, exacerbated by ongoing insecurity and the significant depreciation of the local currency.

In Kenya, where eastern and coastal lowlands as well as some western areas of the Rift Valley all suffered below-average rainfall, maize prices are up by around 30 percent, with the increase somewhat contained somewhat thanks to sustained imports from Uganda.

Cereal prices aren’t the only ones rising. Beans now cost 40 percent more in Kenya than a year earlier, while in Uganda – where maize prices are now up to 75 percent higher than a year earlier – and increasing around the key border trading hub of Busia, the prices of beans and cassava flour are both about 25 percent higher than a year ago in the capital city, Kampala.

Double jeopardy for pastoralists

Drought-affected pastoral areas in the region face even harsher conditions.

Kenya’s animals have been affected with a majority dying due to lack of water and pasture.

In Somalia, goat prices are up to 60 percent lower than a year ago, while in pastoralist areas of Kenya the prices of goats declined by up to 30 percent over the last twelve months.

Shortages of pasture and water caused livestock deaths and reduced body mass, prompting herders to sell animals while they can, as is also occurring in drought-wracked southern Ethiopia. This also pushes up the prices of milk, which is, for instance, up 40 percent on the year in Somalia’s Gedo region.

Lower income from livestock collides with higher prices for cereals and other staple foods in a wrenching shock to terms of trade for pastoralist households. A medium-sized goat in Somalia’s Buale market was worth 114 kilograms of maize in January 2016, but at today’s prices can be traded for only 30 kilograms of the grain.

FAO uses its proprietary FPMA Tool, accessible to the public online, to monitor local markets and gather data for more than 1350 domestic price series in 91 countries around the globe in order to produce its Indicator of Food Price Anomalies

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In a meeting that opened on Wednesday at the Speke Resort Munyonyo was expected to review several immigration policies concerning the movement and administration of citizens in the seven member states.

The meeting attracted seven ministers from seven IGAD member states which include; Somalia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Caroline Njuki, the Senior Programme Coordinator at Regional Secretariat of IGAD.

Caroline Njuki, the Senior Programme Coordinator at Regional Secretariat of IGAD on forced and mixed migration says the ministerial meeting on migration will see the launch of the ministerial committee on immigration.

Njuki says the ministers will also find ways of handling the considerate cases of migration which include the positive and the negative effects to the region.

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Uganda Red Cross Society recently deployed the first Red Cross unmanned aerial vehicle – a drone – in Africa to monitor the situation at a vast refugee camp on the border with South Sudan. The drone footage from northern Uganda revealed that a swathe of countryside is becoming home for the hundreds of people crossing the border each day.

On 8 September, the day the drone took to the air, 4,373 new refugees crossed into Uganda, according to the most recent update from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Bidi- bidi reception Centre in Yumbe district, where many refugees are being initially registered, is 300 kilometres north of Kampala, but is within walking distance of the border with South Sudan, where fighting has erupted. Red Cross volunteers and staff are providing aid and care to the refugees passing through the reception centre.

According to the Red Cross, 57,900 people have passed through the Bidibidi centre – just over a month after it opened. The reception centre is expected to be over its capacity of 100,000 people within the next month.

Nearly 130,000 South Sudanese refugees have arrived since 1 July, bringing the total number in Uganda to nearly 360,000 (Source: UNHCR).

‘A decent life’

On 29 August the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched an emergency appeal for 700,000 US dollars to support the Uganda Red Cross Society’s efforts to assist 40,000 refugees for six months with safe water, sanitation, hygiene promotion, emergency shelter, and health care.

Regional leaders in the Greater Horn of Africa has also raised concern over unending wars that often leads to emergency situations that majorly  affects women and children.

While addressing leaders at a recent world leaders’ summit on Refugees in New York during the ongoing United Nations General Assembly, President Museveni called on world leaders to respect the rights of refugees in their countries.

According to reports, Uganda currently has a refugee population of 690,000 coming from the countries such as Burundi, DR Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda among others. The president predicts the numbers to increase further to 810,000 by the end of this year.

Museveni said that it is wrong to treat African refugees as if they are seeking to consume resources of the indigenous people.

“I tell Ugandans that these (refugees) are our unfortunate brothers and sisters having a misfortune, for the moment, being misgoverned or being unprotected against demonic rebels,” he said.

The Red Cross and other Humanitarian agencies have often raised concern over escalating violence especially in Burundi and South Sudan which they say often causes suffering to the local populations.

“The vast majority of people crossing into Uganda from South Sudan are women and children or people with special needs, such as the elderly and those with complex health issues,” said Andreas Sandin, IFRC operations coordinator for East Africa. “Having travelled more than 400 kilometres from Juba, they arrive exhausted, hungry, and in need of shelter. With more families arriving daily, we need to ramp up our activities quickly.”

Gracious Kyagaba, Water and Sanitation Coordinator at the Uganda Red Cross Society, said: “The appeal launched by the IFRC will support us to address issues related to inadequate supply of water and limited access to health facilities, as well as curb outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases.

“We will also support refugees to set up shelters so that they are able to live as decently as possible.”

Red Cross volunteers are assisting with the registration of new arrivals, who come in on UNHCR buses and then disperse into the surrounding countryside.

Emergency operation

Volunteers are also operating a treatment plant to produce safe drinking-water, and working to raise awareness of hygiene and sanitation – crucial in maintaining good health for the refugees.

The drone used by the society to document its work in Bidibidi was supplied by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre as part of its forecast-based financing programme for large-scale climate-related disasters in Africa supported by the government of Germany and the German Red Cross.

Following its successful first flight, the device may now be deployed from its base in Kampala elsewhere in Africa on forecast-based financing assignments and climate-related emergencies.

The first forecast-based financing response to a disaster was triggered in Uganda last November when Red Cross volunteers distributed 5,000 relief items to flood insecure communities in Kapelebyong after forecasts of rising water-levels reached a predetermined risk threshold.

Uganda
H.E. Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President
General Assembly Seventy-first session: Opening of the General Debate 71 United Nations, New York

Museveni however, wants world leaders to stop supporting armed conflicts especially on the African continent which result in an influx of refugees arguing that sponsoring such groups by external forces prevents peace building.

“If a conflict is really justified, in order to fight for justice with war being the only means of resistance and national salvation, the people can successfully wage a people’s struggle without external sponsorship,” said Museveni. He added that conflict situations are being propelled by puppets looking for external sponsors and by chauvinists looking for puppets.

He cited what he called sectarian persecution occasioned by the “ideologically bankrupt” groups who rely on undisciplined and criminal armies or militias” as one of the main causes of the refugee problem in Africa.

The president called on refugee hosting countries to ensure that refugees are given the necessary assistance to avoid degrading the environment. He also called on humanitarian organizations to empower refugees through educating the children, imparting skills in order for them to be more advantaged when they return to their countries.

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Opening the 9th Executive Council Meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union – (IPU-IGAD), Speaker Kadaga said that her colleagues also have to think about using their traditional tools of legislation, oversight and representation to champion the interests of the people.

“We are meeting at a time when South Sudan and Somalia still don’t have peace and security; when climate change is devastating our region; when many women and girls in our region are still subjected to cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and torture under the name of cultural values,” she said.

The 9th Executive Council Meeting is being held at Century Hotel in Kamuli, 18 – 19 September 2016. Delegations from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan and Uganda are attending the Meeting.

The objectives of IPU-IGAD include promoting unity and strengthening ties of cooperation among member states; promoting peace, security and stability within the sub-region and promoting good governance, transparency and rule of law within member states.

“IPU-IGAD possesses the potent, at least from its objectives, to address some of the challenges faced in our region. Let us make it work for the common person in the region, the voiceless, the marginalized, disadvantaged and oppressed,” said Kadaga.

The Meeting is being held in Kamuli to give chance to visitors to see and experience Uganda’s countryside and how local people live and cope with development challenges.

“We wanted you to see the roads, dwellings, gardens, markets, hospitals, our rural people and their hospitality,” said Kadaga.

The Secretary General of the IPU-IGAD Member States, Amb. Mohamed Adam said the Meeting was testimony of countries’ commitment to the grand goals and visions.

“These visions are embodied in economic development, political and social integration. The aspirations of the people of this region can be achieved since they have more in common than the Europeans who achieved the European Union,” said Amb. Mohamed Adam.
He said that there was need to work together to achieve peace in the region so as to combat poverty, environmental degradation, migrations, human trafficking and drugs.

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“Because of these leaders, because of what they have done in command of troops out in Somalia, the Somali people have a chance to live a better life.”

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The Ministry of defense has confirmed the death of 10 UDF officers during clashes with militant Islamist group al-Shabab in Janaale, Somalia. This was disclosed to parliament by the Minister of state for Defense, General Jeje Odong, while briefing Members of Parliament on the attack to the UPDF in Somalia.

General Jeje said that Uganda lost 10 soldiers, the enemy lost 46 and two were captured alive. He said that the figure bigger than this reported in the media is false.

He noted that the bodies of fallen UPDF officers are being flown home; adding that after notifying their next of kin and family, the names of the deceased will be released.

On 1^st September Alshabab attacked a UPDF unit at Janale, 90 km south East of Mogadishu.

Parliament observed a moment of silence for the slain soldiers.

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The Opposition Chief Whip, Hon. Cecilia Atim-Ogwal has called for a harmonization of national policies and strategies across country borders in order to offer proper solutions to problems affecting the African people.

Ogwal, who was representing the Speaker of Parliament at the opening of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the 3^rd Pan African Parliament, said Africa needs to re-assess and re-focus its socio-economic models with a view of building intra-Africa cooperation and collaboration.

“Africa has a lot of potential to offer its own home grown solutions to its problems. The only problem is that the continent’s efforts are fragmented and disjointed within the confines of individual national and regional social, economic and legal regimes and policies,” Hon. Ogwal said.

The Sixth Ordinary Session of the 3^rd Parliament is being held at the PAP headquarters in Midrand, South Africa; May 18 – 29, 2015.

Hon. Cecilia Atim-Ogwal (FDC, Dokolo district) was formerly the Leader of Uganda’s delegation to the Pan African Parliament. Uganda’s representatives to PAP are Hon. Onyango Kakoba (NRM, Buikwe North), Hon. Beatrice Barumba (NRM, Kiruhura district), Hon. Jacquiline Amongin (NRM, Ngora district), Hon. Elijah Okupa (FDC, Kasilo) and Hon. Sam Amoti Otada (Ind., Kibanda).

In her presentation, Ogwal added that “PAP as a continental legislative body will no doubt offer a powerful clearing house for harmonizing laws and policies in Africa. This in itself will be an anchor to the unity and stability Africa is yearning for.”

She said that large numbers of youths leaving university have failed to get employment since jobs are not available and planned for; the effects of which are rising social unrest and increasing levels of crime.

Hon. Ogwal also said that Africa has witnessed considerable progress in opening up more space for women in national leadership structures in both Cabinet and Parliament, commending Rwanda and South Africa. She however said that some countries have a “very embarrassing state of affairs” as they have few or no women in Cabinet and Parliament.

“This calls for Africa to collectively re-emphasise the campaign to open up more space for women in leadership. Women can and have been making fundamental contributions to this continent in complimenting efforts of their male counterparts,” said Hon. Ogwal.

She urged PAP members “to be disciples of preaching the gospel of love for the continent and commitment to help one another” exhibited by Uganda’s willingness to help in restoring peace in Somalia and South Sudan.

The Kenyan President, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the guest of honor at the Opening ceremony, said that he would sign the amended Protocol for the Establishment of the African Economic Community relating to the PAP, making the country only the second after Mali.

He also said that Africa must use its resources to create jobs, remove obstacles and open up borders in order to reduce incidents of insecurity.

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Ugandan President Gen. Museveni Kaguta in his capacity as the commander in chief of Uganda armed forces has today sent 2,831 troops to Somalia to fight the Al Shabaab militants.

The soldiers Museveni has sent to Somalia are to be deployed in battle group ten. Battle group 10 has replaced battle group eight.

The UPDF Amison leadership and members of the Pan Africa Parliament (PAP) have confirmed the new deployment by president Museveni.

Some of the soldiers sent to Somalia we talked to sounded happiness in serving and bringing peace in Somalia.  There is a ceiling of 6363 soldiers for Uganda and president Museveni’s deployment rotates within that number.

The soldiers the president has sent to Somalia spent the whole of last week in training in order to get acquainted with the welfare and operations of Ugandan soldiers working under the Amisom partnership.

Ends

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The development has come at the time when discussions between the Government of Uganda, UN and African Union are continuing on whether Uganda should still send other military helicopters in Somalia despite the air accident it suffered recently.

The state minister for defence in Uganda government, Gen. Jeje Odongo confirms that Uganda is ready to send more helicopters to Somalia as soon as African Union and the UN allow this East African country to do so.

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