• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is urging countries in Northwest Africa to enhance monitoring and initiate early control measures as adult desert locust groups and small swarms — originating from the Sahel — moved into southern Sahara in the Western Region of the desert locust distribution area.

• Desert locusts remain among the most devastating migratory pests on the planet.

• Locust activity intensified from late February through March, with adult groups and small swarms arriving in central Algeria, western Libya, and southern Tunisia. 

• Due to favorable ecological conditions, the current spring breeding season has witnessed significantly larger infestations than usual.

• Winds and rainfall patterns have facilitated northward movement of desert locusts from southern Algeria, northern Mali, Niger and Chad. 

• In these Sahelian regions, small groups were breeding from August 2024 until early March. 

• The influx of populations into Northwest Africa — particularly in the north and south of the Hoggar Mountains in Algeria and Fezzan in southwest Libya — has prompted FAO to classify the situation in the Western Region as caution, requiring increased vigilance.

• FAO recommends conducting intensive ground surveys across key areas where locust breeding is likely to occur – spanning from south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to the Sahara in Algeria and extending to southern Tunisia and western Libya. 

• These areas have received sufficient rainfall to support vegetation growth, creating favorable conditions for locust development.

• Feeding on crops and pastureland, they pose a threat to crops grown for both people and livestock, risking starvation in communities that depend on agriculture for survival.

• Early detection and rapid response are critical to preventing a wider crisis.

What are locusts?

• Locusts are probably the oldest migratory pests in the world.

• They are capable of forming swarms. They cause great devastation to natural and cultivated vegetation. 

• They are indeed the sleeping giants that can flare up any time to inflict heavy damage to crops, leading to national emergency of food and fodder. 

• Locust swarms can fly up to 150 km a day with the wind.

• Locusts are part of a large group of insects commonly called grasshoppers. However, locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they have the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can migrate over large distances.

• The magnitude of the damage and loss caused by locusts is gigantic as they have caused starvation.

• A single swarm can cover one to several hundreds of square kilometers. Just a single square kilometer of swarm can contain up to 80 million adults, with the capacity to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people. 

• Locusts cause damage by devouring leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points and also by breaking down trees because of their weight when they settle down in masses.

Locust attacks in India

• Four species are found in India — desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), Bombay locust (Nomadacris succincta) and tree locust (Anacridium spp).

• The desert locust is the most important pest species in India as well as in intercontinental context.

• Major incursions of locust swarms were noticed during 1926-31, 1940-46, 1949-55 and the last locust cycle in India was during 1959-62.

• During 2019-20, India witnessed a massive locust attack which was successfully controlled. 

• Starting from May 21, 2019 till February 17, 2020, a total of 4,03,488 hectare area was treated and locust swarms were controlled.

• Usually, the locust swarms enter the scheduled desert area of India through Pakistan for summer breeding in the month of June/July with the advent of monsoon.

Locust Warning Organisation

• In India, the Locust Control and Research (LC&R) is responsible for control of desert locust and is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), which was established in 1939 and later amalgamated with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage in 1946.

• The LWO is the oldest national locust monitoring system in any locust-affected country, dating from the British colonial period.

• The LWO keeps itself abreast with the prevailing locust situation at national and international level. Border meetings between the locust officers of India and Pakistan are held every year (June to November) either at Munabao or at Khokhrapar for exchanging information on the locust situation.

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