Press release
U.S. completes aerial anti-locust campaign in Senegal, Mauritania
ST. LOUIS, Senegal, November 10, 2004 -- U.S.-funded aircraft in Senegal
and Mauritania flew their final sorties early Wednesday, wrapping up a month-long
campaign to protect crops and pastures from devastating locust swarms which have
ravaged millions of hectares in West Africa. 
Since starting locust control operations on October 12, six “Air Tractor”
planes financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) flew
130 sorties and sprayed 279,936 hectares in Mauritania. In Senegal, pilots treated
102,914 hectares on 57 sorties (one hectare is equivalent to 2.4 acres).
To date, USAID contributed more than $9.4 million, including $5.1 million for
the USAID aerial spray operations, to fight the locust invasions in the Sahel.
This funding is part of a regional approach to combat the locusts that builds
on the U.S. Government assistance channeled earlier through the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and bilaterally with regional governments
to fight the spread of locusts in West Africa and the Maghreb.
The FAO, donor governments, and the affected countries are working together throughout
the Sahel and the Maghreb to fight the worst locust invasion in 20 years. There
are strong indications that this battle to curtail the rampant breeding cycle
will continue for some time to come. With an average life span of four months,
each mature female can lay up to 200 eggs in its lifetime. Given that an adult
locust can eat its own weight in green vegetation daily, a fraction of an average
swarm can eat as much as 2,500 people would consume in a single day.
The USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) spearheaded the formation of
a Joint Operations Cell (JOC) composed of civilian crop protection experts and
military officials from Senegal and Mauritania, as well as the USAID/DART. The
JOC, based in St. Louis, met daily to discuss the air operations and to decide
the priority areas for the six aircraft to spray. The JOC and aircraft were up
and running within two weeks of a decision by USAID to launch an aerial spray
campaign.
“Operating from three bases in Senegal and Mauritania, the USAID-contracted
planes have treated over 380,000 hectares. It has been a grand success, saving
thousands of hectares of crops along the river valley,” said Amadou Diallo
of Mauritania’s Center for the Fight Against Locusts and a JOC member. ”And
I am 200% sure that the locusts will be back in June.”
According to Fodé Sarr, regional director of Senegal’s Ministry of
Agriculture and JOC member, the aerial campaign succeeded because of strong cooperation
with Mauritania and USAID. “Working closely together, we reached far beyond
our initial goals. This exercise has laid a solid foundation for future collaboration.”
“In 30 days, we have treated more than 30 percent of the total hectares
treated by the two countries during the last four months. Our objective was to
protect crops and pasture as well as reduce future invasions by killing mature
and immature locusts, and we have been quite successful in that,” said DART
leader Regina Davis. “We are the only operation that has taken a regional
approach, where representatives of Mauritania and Senegal decide nightly where
the planes will treat north and south of the Senegal River the following day.”
As part of an ongoing public safety campaign, USAID financed the production
of 30,000 posters and 10,000 brochures on pesticide awareness and steps villagers
should take during and after pesticide treatment. These continue to be distributed
to schools, mosques and clinics throughout Senegal. U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers
are actively engaging community leaders and informing them about pesticide awareness
and safety measures.
USAID, which this week sent locust emergency officers to Morocco and Mali, is
working with the Comité Permanent Inter Etats de Lutte Contre la Sécheresse
dans le Sahel (CILSS), the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), the
World Food Program, FAO, non-governmental organizations and other donors to analyze
recent data on crop damage caused by locusts to determine how to assist farmers
and pastoralists who have been affected by the locust invasions.
The U.S. Government has worked in the area of locust control for over a decade.
USAID, through the Assistance for Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Abatement (AELGA)
program, has actively provided training in emergency/transboundary pest control
and research into developing alternative control mechanisms. During the locust
plague from 1986 through 1989, the U.S. Government, mainly through USAID, contributed
more than $60 million to a $300 million, multi-donor campaign. Since then, AELGA
has worked in areas of plague prevention, pest management, environmental protection,
pesticide disposal, awareness and training to best handle future locust invasions.
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