DLCO-EA

Achievements

Since its inception, the Organization has made the following significant breakthroughs in its scientific approach to migrant pest and vector management:

DLCO-EA, in co-operation with its member countries and donor community, successfully suppressed locust plagues in the region that were inflicting heavy losses to crops, pastures and posed danger to food security of the member countries.

Following the successful control operations of the Desert Locust plagues in the past decades ending in the early 1960’s, DLCO-EA has pro-actively maintained the region in stable condition and freed the region from any fear of locust plagues occurring without early detection and timely intervention.

The organization’s successful suppression and control of the major locust plagues/upsurges in the main outbreak areas of Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti, has kept Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda free from locusts for the last three decades. This also means saving millions of tons of food and foreign exchange that would have been utilized for importing food in these countries.

DLCO-EA has also in collaboration with national PPDs, successfully managed to minimize the frequency of occurrence of major outbreaks of the migrant pests of Armyworms and Quelea birds.

The organization has also played a great role in controlling the Tsetse fly, that has a great implication in the areas of human health and livestock development sector.

It is clear that the long road that the Organization has travelled, has sometimes been bumpy. Unlike many other organizations, DLCO-EA has overcome periods of difficulty when it was not certain that it would survive, and has emerged as an Organization that is still providing and will continue to provide a valuable service to its Member Countries. The credit for this positive outcome must rest with the Ministers of Agriculture who have supported it, the skill and dedication of the Organization’s staff and the assistance that has been provided by the international donor community.