A helicopter crashed in Ethiopia on Friday morning in Amhara Region around Werebabo area while spraying pesticides against desert locust. Ethiopia has been using small helicopters to stop the spread of forest locust worm, which has damaged crops in Eastern African countries mainly, Kenya and Ethiopia. Last May the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has handed over three helicopters to help Ethiopia control the invasion of desert locust. In addition to the helicopters supplied by FAO, the Government of Ethiopia has also leased three helicopters to control the desert locust. The total area treated in Ethiopia since June 2019 to May 2020 was around 267 000 hectares while over 454, 000 hectares have been surveyed.

Source: Ethiopian News October 03, 2020 10:57 UTC