Monday November 29, 2021
FILE PHOTO: A motorist drives within desert locusts near a grazing land on the outskirt of Dusamareb in Galmudug region, Somalia December 22, 2019. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
The government of Tanzania has set aside 3 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 1.3 million U.S. dollars) for buying a spray plane to fight invasions of locusts, the Minister for Agriculture, Adolf Mkenda, said on Sunday.
Mkenda told a press conference in the capital Dodoma the government has decided to buy the spray plane to fight the locusts that have been invading the country from time to time.
He said although Tanzania got support from the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa and the International Red Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa during locusts’ invasions, buying its own spray plane could reinforce the fight against the destructive pests.
“When locusts invade our country we request for spray planes from these organizations but acquiring our own spray plane will boost the fight against the locusts,” said Mkenda.
Mkenda said the buying of the spray plane will go in tandem with the strengthening of the agricultural aerial spraying unit.
In February 2021, swarms of locusts invaded in Monduli, Longido, Simanjiro, Siha, and Mwanga in northern Tanzania but they were wiped out before they inflicted damage on farm crops.