Johannesburg - Locusts breeding in central Zambia may
pose a bigger threat to farmers in southern Africa than the fall armyworm that’s
ravaged crops this year, according to an organisation that combats the pests.
Red locusts have already reached densities of as much as
50 per square meter over 76 000 hectares in an area known as the Kafue Flats,
Moses Okhoba, director of the International Red Locust Control Organisation for
Central and Southern Africa, said in an interview late Tuesday. If
uncontrolled, they could form swarms of 40 million insects, destroying corn
fields in their way.
“If you had an outbreak of locusts, the situation will be
about ten times worse when compared to when you had fall armyworms,” Okhoba
said in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. “You do not want to see a swarm of locusts
in your field because then you will not be talking of anything to harvest or to
see.”
Read also: Armyworms could reach Asia
Southern African countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe and
South Africa are already battling an outbreak of crop-eating caterpillars that
arrived from the Americas last year. Locust swarms would be yet another setback
for growers in the region, which is still recovering from the worst drought in
more than 35 years. While hoppers, or larvae, have infested only 1 600 hectares
of crop fields, they must be immediately stopped from expanding further,
according to Okhoba.
Staple food
A swarm of 40 million insects can eat 80 000 tons and
travel anywhere between 20 kilometers to 100 kilometers a day, depending on
winds, he said, speaking on the sidelines of a regional emergency meeting to
combat pests. Most farmers in southern Africa grow corn, the staple food in the
region.
“At the moment the locusts are breeding in Tanzania,
Malawi and Mozambique,” said Okhoba. “Outbreaks from these areas, depending on
the period, can affect countries all around the region.”
Zambian President Edgar Lungu already instructed the
treasury to release funds to the International Red Locust Control Organisation
to complete surveying and start spraying pesticides to prevent an outbreak.