By AgroNigeria
The African Development Bank (AfBD) has approved some $1.5 million emergency relief grant to assist nine countries in East Africa in their fight to contain the billions of desert locusts in the region.
The nine nations that would benefit from the relief grant are: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.
The Bank’s Board of Directors on Wednesday announced the intervention, adding that the fund came as a measure to contain the threat posed by the invasion on livelihoods and food security across Africa.
Migratory desert locusts, whose breeding has been traced to July 2019, since January 2020 have been destroying tens of thousands of croplands across the Horn of Africa, further threatening food security in the volatile region.
AfDB said its funds would be used to control the spread of the invasion, prevent potential next-generation swarms and to conduct impact assessment and monitoring to enhance preparedness and awareness.
The financial house also disclosed that the assistance would be channeled towards the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an agency mandated to mobilise resources on behalf of the African Union.
IGAD would work in partnership with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which has been leading and coordinating development partners support towards the control efforts.
The Bank also disclosed that FAO would act as the Executing Agency for the grant.
It added that a portion of the fund would be earmarked for administrative costs.
“Efforts to control the infestations will require around $147 million, of which $ 75 million has been provided by governments, donors and UN agencies including FAO and the World Food Program (WFP).
“However, a significant funding shortfall remains,” the Bank said in a statement.