Scattered and few solitary and very small groups of immature Desert Locust movement continued in August in Tigray, Amhara, Afar, Oromia, and Somali (Siti Zone) Administrative Regions and Dire Dawa rural villages.
A ground survey was conducted on 621,105 in the North, Northeastern, and Eastern parts of the country by Federal Plant Protection Directorate and Regional Agricultural Bureau experts and the team confirmed the presence of DL during the first half of the month in Tigray and in Amhara Administrative Regions. The DL was absent in the Afar Administrative Region in August 2023, whereas it was reported in Dire Dawa and Somali Administrative regions during the last decade of the month and the beginning of September 2023.
Desert Locust ground and aerial control has been carried out in Tigray, Oromia, Dire Dawa, and Somali Administrative Regions on 795ha of which 180ha was aerial application conducted on 2nd September by DLCO-EA Aircraft in Somali Administrative Region (between Jigjiga and Kebribeyah, N09 17 52.945 E043 07 49.147). The control operation took 2 hours’ flight.
Though the DL groups so far observed are very small in size, intensive monitoring and control should be continued during September 2023 to manage the possible breeding of unchecked locust groups in the traditional suitable breeding areas of the aforementioned regions
