Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Anna Shiweda said her ministry will be training farmers on how to handle chemicals and spray their crops against locusts after a swarm was spotted in the Kavango East Region over the weekend. Shiweda was responding to questions in the National Assembly by Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Parliamentarian, Jan van Wyk on what the ministry is doing in light of the swarm of African migratory red locusts being spotted in Rundu in the Kavango East Region on Sunday. Shiweda said the ministry’s official spraying team is following the locusts, however, the situation is at the moment catastrophic as the locusts have not only come in large numbers but have also spread to other regions, making it difficult for the ministry’s limited staff to efficiently manage the situation. “The challenge we have is on the side of the staff to spray. We got permission to recruit casual workers to assist with the spraying and we are also being assisted by the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) who are being trained on how to handle the chemicals but it is a challenge because this time around the locusts have increased in numbers and they have also [moved] to various regions,” she said. According to her, even with the assistance of the NDF and temporary casual workers, the ministry will not be able to manage the situation on its own as the locust are currently moving into other regions such as Kavango West, Ohangwena and Oshikoto. 'It is a big challenge because they have now moved to the adult stage, where they are now flying and when they are flying, it becomes a challenge to spray them. When they are still young, you can easily spray,” she explained, adding that the ministry is addressing the situation and they have received funds from the contingency fund and from the prime minister's office, which have enabled them to buy chemicals and to recruit casuals workers. The locust invasion in the Kavango regions follows one in the Zambezi Region in August 2020, which allegedly destroyed more than 5 000 hectares of green fields.