Coordination of Desert Locust Management System
A Locust Control Unit (LCU) will be established by allocating office space, equipping it with the necessary equipment and deploying of required personnel. Adequate office space will be established adjacent to the PPSD which is located at KALRO Kabete along Waiyaki way.
The LCU will be equipped with desktop and laptop computers loaded with the necessary software and accessories, LCD, communication gadgets such as smartphones, handheld and vehicle mounted HF radios, internet connectivity, Television, airtime among others, suitable office and field vehicles, lubricants and fuel, field equipment such as GPS, calculators, cameras and measuring gadgets. In addition, the LCU will be supplied with adequate office supplies, furniture, water dispenser and cleaning materials. The office compound will be installed with security surveillance cameras.
A suitable expert will be appointed to head the LCU and will be supported with administrative staff to oversee the day-to-day activities of the office and also casual workers will be hired. The officer in charge of this unit will have expertise in plant protection and trained in desert locust management. In addition, experts in the following field will be brought on board: entomology, GIS, biometrics, climatology, environmental science and information technology.
Desert Locust Sections in the departments responsible for agriculture in the affected counties will be established. The County executive committee member (CEC) in charge of agriculture will identify suitable office space for county locust control section and storage space.
The CEC will identify and assign a DL county coordinator. The officer will be one with crop protection expertise and will be trained on desert locust management. The coordinator will supervise and guide desert locust operations at ward/community levels in the county. The officer will be supported by casual workers on need-basis to handle activities of the section. The section will further be equipped with the necessary equipment such as furniture, ICT, eLocust3g, office supplies, sprayers, appropriate insecticides, personal protective gear and suitable vehicles and supplies of lubricants and fuel.
The county coordinator will identify and assign an officer to be in-charge of locust operations at ward/community level (Operations officer), and allocate appropriate office and storage space. The officer will be one who is trained in crop protection and will be trained on desert locust management. The main duties of the operations officer will be to carry out surveillance and control activities and to report to the county coordinator. The operations officer will also be responsible for stock management of pesticides and equipment at the Ward level. To effectively undertake these tasks, the operations officer will be equipped with motorbike, fuel and lubricants, smart phone, elocust3g, GPS, tape measures, calculators, note books and airtime.
The LCU will establish and strengthen linkages with national, regional and international institutions, universities, local and international research institutions, regulatory bodies and development partners who engage on desert locust management. The LCU will facilitate formal communication to various institutions partnering in the desert locust management initiative. Such communication shall provide details of the roles of the institutions and shall request for nomination of appropriate representative persons. The nominated persons shall constitute the technical advisory team, which shall be inaugurated to work with LCU.
The technical advisory team will develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) to guide responses to Desert Locust invasions. The SOPs will outline modalities of engagement of the various entities including the national government (relevant ministries), county governments, specialist organizations especially DLCO-EA and development partners such as FAO.