Cape Town – The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has urged farmers and members of the public to report locust swarms, especially on unoccupied farms.
The country has been experiencing a locust outbreak since September 2021 after the rains received from August in the Karoo region of the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape.
The department said it had appointed and trained locust control contractors in all areas which have experienced locust outbreaks.
These contractors were provided with insecticide, spraying pumps and protective clothing to enable them to control the outbreak.
“The challenge towards our locust control campaign is unreported locust swarms on unoccupied farms, game and environmental parks. These unreported locust swarms go unnoticed and end up growing and becoming adults and fly to crop and pasture land and cause extensive damage,” the department said in a statement.
The department is appealing to all land and farm owners, especially those who are not staying on their farms, to inspect for locusts and report their presence to the department or to their agricultural unions.
The department is equally making an appeal to members of the public to assist in reporting these locust swarms wherever they see them to their nearest office of the Department of Agriculture.
“We wish to applaud the commando system used to control locusts which is a working relationship between agricultural unions and government.
“As we enter the festive season, together with control contractors, we will continue to ensure that controlling of locust swarms get our undivided attention. The locusts are now in a mixed stage, adult ones will follow the wind to move from one province to another,” it said.
The country experiences an outbreak of locusts every 10 years, with the previous outbreak taking place in 2010. The department has, in the main, appointed farmers as locust control contractors as they are on the farms on a daily basis.
Cape Times