The Threat of Desert Locust to Food Security in Africa

0131445Introduction

Figure 1: Schistocerca Gregaria

Source: Lecoq, 2003

The desert locust is a major threat to agriculture within an extended areas in North African (Lecoq, 2003). This insect causes significant damage to agro-sylvo-pastoral systems when it invades during seasonal invasions enabled by its robust and intricate migratory capabilities. The damage translates to severe food security problems, along with environmental and socioeconomic disturbances. The solution to threats posed by these locusts include containment, EMPRES reinforcement, and crop protection.

Key Figures and Facts

Figure 2: African countries facing potential desert locust threat

-9144070485Source: Anyamba et al. 2005

African countries mostly at the risk of the desert locust threat include Algeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, and Morocco

The largest crop damage by desert locusts in Africa was $ 2.5 billion (2003-2005).

Stopping this plague required $450 million (Palca, 2019).

Adult locust swarms can fly 150km per day (FAO, 2019).

A small locust swarm can damage food that can feed 35,000 people per day (FAO, 2019).

Eight locust invasion periods have been witnessed in the past (between1860 and 2003), some lasting more than 20 years.

Figure 3: Nature of locust invasion on crops

Source: FAO, 2019

Food crops in Africa mostly targeted by desert locusts are cereals and carbohydrate-rich crops.

Figure 4: Graph showing crops in Africa mostly targeted by desert locusts

Source: Lecoq, 2003

Factors in the Desert Locust Threat

Quick and rapid locust breeding during the summer as the queen can lay 300 eggs.

Heavy rains that amplify their breeding

High migratory capacities that enable them to transcend international boundaries.

Figure 5: Desert locusts’ eggs

Source: https://fr.slideshare.net/

Nature of the Desert Locust Threat

During periods of favorable rainfall in African deserts, outbreaks, invasions, and upsurges of desert locusts occur in most Saharan countries. Large locust swarms breed as they migrate because of the many eggs produced by queens. These swarms voraciously feed on grasses, trees, agricultural crops, and other plants in their migratory routes. This feeding devastates crops meant for people and livestock, leading to serious food security challenges realized as famines and starvation amongst crop-reliant communities.

Periods of rainfall recession interrupt the breeding and the desert locust population reduces, leaving only small numbers (Lecoq, 2003).

Importance of the Desert Locust Threat

Desert locust invasions have both socioeconomic and environmental importance. All types of vegetation are subject to attacks during the invasions, with damage occurring to biennial and perennial crops in the migratory, which are either irrigated or rain-fed. Damage to the total biomass production occurs, culminating in the abandonment of the affected agricultural and pastoral lands. Competition for food between locusts, humans, and livestock continues, and vegetation deteriorates, soil fertility declines, and ecological balance is disturbed. Further devastation causes local desertification, which has acute environmental implications such as loss of rainfall levels. Augmented irrigation in the Sahara increases the economic risk of desert locust invasions (Eriksson, 2008). Also, since these locust invasions happen during favorable rainfall periods, the development of agricultural crops during these periods increase the invasions’ economic impact (Ceccato et al., 2007; Lecoq, 2003).

Figure 6: Swarm of locusts threaten crops in post-Gaddafi Africa

Source: https://observers.france24.com/

Solutions

Figure 7: Mean control efficiency of desert locust nymphs treated with different IGR Nomolt plus GM50g/ha doses (year/2008)

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/

The desert locust can be addressed using three strategies:

Containment: Entails using pesticides to spray small locust colonies before they gather, breed, and spread to agricultural areas (The World Bank, 2010).

Reinforcement of EMPRES: The Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pest and Diseases is a preventive program endorsed as part of FAO’s locust control mandate aiming at fighting locusts without the use of pesticides (Van der Valk et al. 2006).

Crop Protection: It involves using the available plague data to anticipate when the locust plague can reach the crops, hence launching strategic spraying campaigns to protect the crops before the plague.

Conclusion

The environmental and socioeconomic disturbances caused by these locusts can best be maintained through Containment, reinforcement of EMPRES and crop protection.

References

Anyamba, A., Small, J., Tucker, C. J., Cressman, K., Love, T. B., & Linthicum, K. J. 2005, September. Remote sensing of eco-climatic conditions associated with the 2004 Desert Locust outbreak in Northwest and Sahelian Africa. In Pecora 16 Symp. Global Priorities in Land Remote Sensing.

Ceccato, P., Cressman, K., Giannini, A., & Trzaska, S. 2007. The desert locust upsurge in West Africa (2003–2005): Information on the desert locust early warning system and the prospects for seasonal climate forecasting. International Journal of Pest Management, 53(1), pp. 7-13.

Eriksson, H. 2008. Effects on non-target organisms of insecticides used to control desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. (Licentiate Thesis, Uppsala University of Agricultural Sciences).

FAO. (July 25, 2019). FAO warns of Desert Locust outbreaks in Yemen and the Horn of Africa. Report from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome. FAO. Available at https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/fao-warns-desert-locust-outbreaks-yemen-and-horn-africa.

Le Gall, M., Overson, R., & Cease, A. J. 2019. A global review on locusts (Orthoptera: Acrididae) and their interactions with livestock grazing practices. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 263.

Lecoq, M. 2003. Desert locust threat to agricultural development and food security and FAO/international role in its control. Arab Society for Plant Protection. Arab J. Pl. Prot. 21, pp. 188-193.

Palca, J. August 19, 2019. Maybe the way to control locusts is by growing crops they don’t like. NRP. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/19/752361368/maybe-the-way-to-control-locusts-is-by-growing-crops-they-dont-like.

The World Bank. January 7, 2010. Improved ways to prevent the desert locust in Mauritania and the Sahel. The World Bank. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2010/01/07/improved-ways-to-prevent-the-desert-locust-in-mauritania-and-the-sahel.

Van der Valk, H., Del Castello, R., Cressman, K., Monard, A., Eriksson, H., Ammati, M., … & Everts, J. 2006. Fighting the locusts… Safely. Pesticides in desert locust control: Balancing risks against benefits. FAO.