Bayer East Africa has donated US $923,178 to assist with the fight against desert locusts in Kenya and Uganda. Bayer East Africa Chairman Dr. Chris Kirubi said that food security has to be prioritized within the country and known as on the government to partner with the Private Sector in guaranteeing that the country is food secure at all times.
Kirubi requested the government to support every partner in the chemical industry. He further added that he would like to work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to find solutions on various sectors and challenges being faced
Kirubi reiterated that private sector is alive to the challenges the government and Kenyans at large face particularly now because of COVID-19 pandemic and locust invasion reassuring of their support in giving solutions and help wherever necessary.
“We knew the locusts were coming, they had devastated Somalia and Ethiopia and therefore if we had this pesticide and we would not have experienced the distraction of crops that was caused by locusts,” Kirubi added.
According to the company’s Managing Director Laurent Pierre, the devastation means a serious food crisis threatens these East African countries with many countries already experiencing food shortages. In Kenya where 34% of the country’s GDP comes from agriculture, this invasion marked the worst of its kind in 70 years and threatened the country’s economic and food production.
While being given the donation, Agriculture Chief body Secretary Lina Jebii Kilimo said that it would help since it can accommodate the farmers whose crops were most exposed to the locusts. Kilimo added, ‘’Anything in our disposal will allow us to provide for our fellow Kenyans during this case, the vulnerable farmers in numerous regions of this country can profit and you have got touched their livelihoods during a massive method,”
According to the media, of the 170,000 litres, Kenya received 120,000 whereas Uganda received 50,000 litres. The Donation was created in partnership with, Agriculture Sector Network, Kenya personal Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and Crop Life among others. More than ten million individuals within the geographic area region face acute food insecurity because of recent locust plagues that ravaged huge fields of food crops.
