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MAGWI - 1 Mar 2020

Magwi County asks for help in wake of locust invasion

Magwi County authorities have appealed for assistance from the national government and partners to fight locusts, saying that they lack the capacity to fight off the pests single-handedly.

Swarms of desert locusts have been spotted in Lobone, Panyikwara and Owiny-kibul areas in Magwi County of Eastern Equatoria State.

“As far as we know, we do not have the capacity because the best way to destroy the locusts is by spraying. I think even the national government has no capacity of having a plane to spray them, but we shall use the local methods by making noise and burning things because they [locusts] fear smoke,” David Ocheng Tukwaro, the Executive Director of the county, told Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday.

Tukwaro said information on locusts has been circulated and some non-governmental organizations carried out assessments in the area.

He, however, said there was no much destruction caused by locusts since they invaded the county when crops had already been harvested.

South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced that it needs over 2 billion Pounds to help control the locust outbreak in the country.

The arrival of the locusts, experts say, could be catastrophic in South Sudan, where war followed by drought and floods has already left six million people or 60 percent of the population facing severe hunger.