DALRRD’s failure to combat locust plague might lead to farmers’ financial distress and job losses
4 March 2022
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) should have anticipated the locust outbreak in parts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape as previous outbreaks had been reported in parts of East Africa and other parts of Southern Africa. DALRRD failed dismally to recognise the warnings, engaging neighbouring states within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and put plans to mitigate the locust outbreak.
Despite the Department being allocated R495.1 million in the 2019/20 financial year towards biosecurity, it failed to use this budget to execute the task because of the lack of capacity and focus.
The DA asked the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, whether her department was ready to deal with the locust outbreak. She indicated her Department’s readiness, only to find DALLRD woefully unprepared to deal with the numerous challenges ranging from training of commandos, clothing and other logistics.
After the DA sent a follow-up question to Minister Didiza regarding the progress made in combating the locust outbreak, she indicated that a helicopter service provider was appointed to supplement the ground control teams in reaching inaccessible areas. The helicopter has yet to land, but almost R75 million has already been spent.
Meanwhile, Agri Northern Cape has arranged aerial support on the weekend of the 26 February 2022 through a donation from Agri SA Disaster Relief Foundation to control the outbreaks between Marydale and Kenhardt at the cost of R16 000 per hour.
The Northern Cape is at a critical locust outbreak stage and aerial intervention is non-negotiable. The locusts there need to be stopped before they become dangerous to the farming community.
The plague of locusts have placed a further economic burden on farmers who have faced many years of drought without sufficient aid from the ANC government. And while recent rain have brought some relief, it’s not enough to mitigate the effects of almost a decade of drought. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that a swarm measuring just a single square km can contain up to 80 million adults, with the capacity to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35 000 people. Without urgent intervention, the agriculture sector could face heavy job losses.
The DA calls on Minister Didiza to urgently:
Employ private sector satellite technologies that will assist with the collection, interpretation and forecasting of breeding and migration patterns to predict habitat development, outbreaks, upsurges, and plagues;
Map the spatial distribution of locusts and their development stages to enlighten and inform control operations in all the affected regions;
Use aircraft to spray specific targeted areas to stop potential further damage;
Provide funding to support the aerial operation of AgriSA; and
Based on the above, create a proper budget that is able to support the work uninterrupted to ensure smooth operation leading to the total eradication of the locust plague.
Lastly, the DA calls on DALRRD to urgently address the complaints of delayed payments of the some of the commandos and the discrepancy regarding the travel claims by members of AgriSA involved in combating the locust outbreak to ensure smooth operations.
Issued by Noko Masipa, DA Member on the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development, 4 March 2022
