Kenya is likely to become free from desert locusts in the near future thanks to roll-out of robust containment measures, a senior official from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said on [July 28].

Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s resilience team leader for East Africa, said that Kenya and other Horn of Africa nations have made significant progress towards eradication of the voracious pests.

[Editor’s note: Read the FAO’s Q&A with Cyril Ferrand to learn more.]

He said that only two out of the 29 counties in Kenya that were infested by desert locusts in February are yet to contain them.

“In the coming days, that will drop to one county, and within three weeks Kenya should be free of large-scale infestations altogether,” Ferrand said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

He said that FAO is fighting the second generation of desert locusts that have been successful but the threat of possible re-infestation towards the end of the year calls for enhanced surveillance.

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