Uganda will deploy military personnel to combat an armyworm infestation that has hit the country, destroying at least 13,000 acres of cultivated land in over 40 districts, Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) Uganda will deploy military personnel to combat an armyworm infestation that has hit the country, destroying at least 13,000 acres of cultivated land in over 40 districts, Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said on Friday.
"The 100 (Ugandan Peoples' Defense Forces) personnel earlier trained to fight the locust invasion will be deployed to fight on the ground by spraying these armyworms. National and district surveillance teams are being trained to support the monitoring," Nabbanja was quoted as saying by the Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor.
She added that the government has also dispatched inspectors, including ministers, who will assist with the surveillance and provide guidance in the field.
"The invasion is spreading quickly because of the wind and dry weather as well as the delay of the rain. They are affecting younger crops. Distributors of these insecticides have been asked to stock enough supplies," Nabbanja added.
As the country's agricultural ministry unveiled on Thursday, armyworms have disseminated across at least 41 out of 136 Ugandan districts, destroying corn, millet, sorghum, wheat, sugarcane and pasture. The affected areas are expanding rapidly, having grown more than threefold over the week.
Because nearly 70% of the Ugandan labor force is employed in the agricultural sector, fighting armyworms was designated as critical for the country's food security and economic growth. According to the newspaper, the government has already spent at least 600 million shillings ($168,000) to overcome the infestation.
