National government has begun work on a plan to compensate farmers who were impacted by the locust invasion more than two years ago.
Beneficiaries in fifteen counties that were hard hit by the pests in 2019 will receive compensation through the World Bank-funded Emergency Locust Response Programme.
Farmers in Turkana County will receive Sh36 million after locusts destroyed more than 15,000 hectares of crop and pasture.
According to county officials, the invasion of desert locusts reversed gains made through crop production investment in various irrigation schemes.
Agriculture and Pastoral Economy Executive George Emoru stated that the first phase of the programme had already identified the ten worst affected wards.
He said the money will be channeled through Community Driven Development Committees.
The beneficiaries are drawn from Kapedo/Napeitom, Lokori/Kochodin, Lobei/Kotaruk, Lokiriama/Lorengkipi, Letea, Kalapata and Kaeris, Kerio, Kaputir and Kanamkemer wards.
“The grant is aimed at supporting both farmers and herders to restore their productive livelihoods for sustained food security by venturing in both livestock and crop production,” Emoru said.
He added that county officials from both agriculture and livestock sectors will monitor the committees to ensure funds are prudently spent.
“Prudent use of the grants in conformity with procurement regulations resulting in positive transformation for targeted households will see more wards reached,” Emoru said.
The latest plague, two years ago, was in the form of billions of insects devouring crops, threatening the food security of a population in a region already weakened by extreme-climate events and armed conflict.
In December 2020, after an absence of more than 70 years, locust swarms returned to Kenya. Residents of the arid counties of Mandera and Wajir in the north-eastern part of the country saw the sky and land covered with countless small yellow and brown locusts arriving from Ethiopia and Somalia.
These three countries were the most affected by the latest locust invasion. Scenes of frightened inhabitants trying to chase the insects away with sticks or frighten them by banging on metal sheets have been seen everywhere.
The desert locust was considered to be one of the most dangerous of flying pests by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), as its ability to fly long distances allows it to migrate quickly. Agriculture being a key sector in Kenya, accounting for 26 per cent of GDP in 2019.
