Somalia and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations have opened a centre to monitor desert locusts in the country.
The centre based in Qardho in northeast Somalia, will serve as the national desert locust early warning and control base. Somali Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation Said Hussein Iid said the government has prioritised control of the desert locust as well as other invasive species, stressing the government is in the process of enacting the required laws that will ensure Somalia is well protected against such pests.
“Part of these efforts include the formation of Somali Agriculture Regulator Inspection Services (SARIS) as well as National Desert Locust Unit (NDLU),” he said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
Desert locusts
Somalia is one of the countries to have made huge gains in suppressing one of the largest desert locusts surges in living memory. While parts of the country are already reeling from the destructive seasonal floods and rainstorms, this fresh desert locust invasion is causing alarm among the farming communities, threatening their livelihood and harming food production and income.
Facilities such as these will help with any resurgence that climatic conditions might trigger and surveillance and control operations must be maintained at scale, with the government taking the leading role.
FAO Country Representative for Somalia Etienne Peterschmitt said the National Desert Locust Monitoring and Control Centre will act as a hub for all desert locust control operations now and in the future.
 of the United Nations have opened a centre to monitor desert locusts in the country.){kind=link}