Brown locusts swarm on Karasburg district – Agriculture Ministry battles 3rd outbreak
The Agriculture Ministry is currently fighting the 3rd locust outbreak in the Karasburg District, Karas Region, the ministry’s spokesperson, Jonah Musheko said in a statement this week.
“Given the good to fair rains received in the Ariamsvlei area, measuring up to 50 mm has created a favourable breeding environment for locusts. These areas have been receiving daily fly-in, mating egg-laying adult, brown locust from South Africa,” he said.
According to Musheko, the first outbreak was reported on 21 September 2021 by a commercial farmer and a team was immediately dispatched, unfortunately, they could not trace the small swam.
“The initial control commenced on 3 November 2021 in the Karasburg district and by then, the infested area was estimated at approximately 800,000 hectares of farmland, and over 240,000 ha surveyed with approximate 2000 ha treated/sprayed,” he added.
Musheko said since mid-Dec. 2021, the ministry has been detecting swarms of brown locusts and spraying teams have been dispatched and are in the field to date.
“As of yesterday, spraying was carried out at the farms Nakop up to Swartkop, covering approximately a total of 80,000 ha. These first instar locusts are still hatching, they do not move much and did not form groups yet. However, there are large swarms of adult locusts that migrated through the area while reproducing,” he added.
Musheko meanwhile encouraged farmers to continue monitoring/scouting their farms and report any new incidents of locust infestations.
