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

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

“Our contingency plan is amounting to 2,597,000, 000 South Sudanese Pounds. We will need to prepare people who will participate in controlling locusts and those who will monitor their movement,” Agriculture Minister Onyoti Adigo told reporters on Tuesday.

He added, “We will need cars for ground spraying and aircrafts when its invasion gets serious like what is happening in Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.”

Onyoti said South Sudan, which is a member of the Desert Locust Control Organization of East Africa, is currently working and sharing information on the status of the locusts with other regional countries.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, James Janka Duku called upon the government to take the lead in the fight against locusts.

“The government must come up with the necessary response mechanism and one of these mechanisms is the funds because it will translate into meeting all the activities that are involved,” he said.

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.