The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has developed the eLocust3m application to improve early warning through rapid detection, surveillance and monitoring of locust outbreaks.
According to a statement issued by FAO on Wednesday, about 30 agricultural extension officers in Namibia, specifically from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform were recently trained on the use of the application. They were also acquainted with skills to operate the mobile phone application as a means to strengthen their locust monitoring and control efforts.
Chief Agricultural Extension Officer of the Directorate of Agricultural Production, Extension and Engineering Services in the ministry, Margaret Matengu was quoted in the statement as stating that the eLocust3m application will help Namibia to assess the current situation on the ground and to warn of the likelihood of an invasion, noting that times of crisis are also times for innovation and collaboration.
The virtual training was conducted by the FAO Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa Resilience Hub, targeting the staff who are currently overseeing locust control operations in Namibia’s locust affected regions as well as non-affected regions.
Namibia has been battling an African Migratory Locust (AML) outbreak and two other locust species, the red and the brown locust, are known to have swarmed and damaged grazing in southern parts of the country.
The food security and livelihoods of thousands of smallholder households are under threat, the statement reads.
According to FAO eLocust3m, an innovative data collection application, helps to inform decision-makers on which areas need attention and help to establish to what extent the locust outbreak is in order to guide coordination and response efforts. In addition to identifying areas to target with spraying, eLocust3m enables FAO to provide advance warning to people who have not yet been affected by invading locust swarms.
The project is also being implemented in Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe to safeguard the food and nutrition security and livelihoods of vulnerable people in AML affected areas.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency
