Threat of locusts set to continue

While efforts to control a locust outbreak in Northern Afghanistan have succeeded in keeping crop damage to a minimum, the threat of infestation will continue unless further operations begin early next spring. FAO estimated crop losses in the three most seriously affected provinces, the breadbasket of the war-torn country, at about seven percent this year. "The situation at the moment is that the locusts have laid their eggs and these will hatch next spring," Dr Andrew Harvey, independent consultant and locust expert for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told IRIN from his home in England. A survey of egg-laying had been undertaken, with indications that large areas would be infested, comparable to those this year, he explained. Without a control campaign next year - and without funding there wouldn't be one - he argued there would be serious crop damage in the northern provinces of Kunduz, Samangan and Baghlan, probably extending into Balkh. These provinces were particularly hard hit this year and over 70 percent of crop production across the north was judged at risk. Harvey's comments follow an FAO announcement on Thursday urging control operations to begin early next year to avoid another locust emergency. FAO and Afghan plant protection staff are conducting a survey of the areas in which locusts are laying their egg-pods and upon completion, contingency plans and preparedness programmes will be drawn up for the 2003 control campaign in order to avoid the development of another major outbreak. But according to Harvey, the survivors of the locusts that infested hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland in the north in the first half of 2002, had already laid eggs across a wide stretch of land. "We can't afford to wait until the eggs hatch next year and develop into swarms before taking action," he warned. "We have to find out where the eggs are laid and kill the young hoppers as early as possible when they hatch out in the spring, before they can become adults and are able to fly." Although locust infestations occur annually in Northern Afghanistan - with the scale and intensity of infestations varying from year to year - Harvey noted that the severity of this year's plague - the worst in 30 years - was due to a combination of factors. The exceptionally high locust population was the result of two years without control and favourable breeding conditions brought on by the ongoing drought conditions inside the country, he explained. "This year, because it was an emergency campaign, only the locusts directly threatening the crops could be controlled to mitigate crop damage," Harvey said. "But, with a properly prepared campaign, we can reduce the damage on crops even further next year, but also begin to bring the overall numbers down to a level that can be managed by a sustainable long-term control strategy." Following the launch of the FAO's US $800,000 locust eradication campaign in March, the operation was run by Afghan staff, with necessary technical expertise and inputs provided by FAO, NGOs and other UN agencies. By mid-June, just under 240,000 hectares were cleared using mechanical or chemical methods. The success of the campaign was particularly striking given the logistical and security constraints under which the control teams had to operate. In the 1990s, FAO helped establish community control mechanisms, whereby farmers were trained to monitor where the eggs were laid and to kill the vulnerable young hoppers as they emerged from the ground by driving them into trenches and burying them. However, this method, known as mechanical control, only works if it is carried out every year and if communities are properly mobilised on a large scale. According to Harvey, the advantages of mechanical control are that it is not dependent on imported equipment and chemicals and can be implemented by local people. Moreover, it is free from the hazards of using toxic chemicals. However, he cautioned it was much less efficient than chemical control and could not, on its own, have prevented serious damage to crops this year. Given the magnitude of the infestation this year, and in a race against time, FAO organised an airlift of pesticides and spraying equipment into Northern Afghanistan for deployment against the locusts. For areas not accessible by road, a helicopter was used to distribute materials, while five vehicle-mounted sprayers and 1,300 hand-held sprayers were used to apply almost 30,000 litres of pesticides against the hopper bands. As part of the effort, some 250 locally recruited operators were employed by either the FAO or NGOs, protecting the livelihoods of some four million people. Another important step was to establish a locust database to record, survey and control information, to be used for subsequent analysis and future planning. Earlier information collected during previous control programmes was lost during looting after the fall of the Taliban at the end of last year.