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About the Desert Locust Centre |
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Background |
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Introduction to the Centre |
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Activities |
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Background The
desert locust in Mauritania The
desert locust breeds in two major areas of Mauritania. The summer
breeding area covers the southern part (extending from the west to the
east of the country, below the 18th parallel) and receives
tropical rains, beginning in June or July and continuing possibly until
October. The winter-spring breeding area covers north and northwest
Mauritania and tends to a more Mediterranean pattern of rainfall:
usually beginning in December or January, although sometimes as early as
October. The
area of the Adrar and Inchiri, in west central Mauritania, can function
as an intermediate zone as a result of unpredictable rains from
September onwards. The
impact of the desert locust on Mauritanians The
desert locust is the only pest capable of causing significant damage to
all types of agricultural and pastoral activity in a single season. Crop
production in Mauritania amounts to 20–30 billion Ouguiya per year, in
addition to the harder-to-quantify pastoral and livestock sectors. Damage
caused by the desert locust can lead to:
Consequently,
desert locust control is necessarily a responsibility of the Government
and in fact one of its most important priorities. It cannot be
privatised and the people who benefit are among the country's poorest
and most vulnerable: small farmers and herders. A
brief history of desert locust control in Mauritania The
surveillance and control of the desert locust in Mauritania and other
Sahelian countries was, from the 1960s, mainly run by OCLALAV. In
Mauritania, surveillance was carried out by teams from a logistics and
research base at Aioun el-Atrous, reinforced when necessary by
terrestrial and aerial teams provided by the Senegal-Mauritania Group,
based in Dakar. Through
the 1980s, OCLALAV suffered more and more from a lack of resources. By
this time, though, Mauritania was on the way to taking control of the
desert locust problem in its territory. National
teams began to work alongside OCLALAV to counter localized breeding in
1985 and 1986 and, on a much larger scale, against the invasion of
1987–88, when a general mobilization of national resources —
civilian and military, terrestrial and aerial — proved effective. This
approach was consolidated by the Mauritanian government after the 1989
restructuring of OCLALAV, when responsibility for activity on the ground
was transferred to member countries. The following measures were taken:
These
structures, along with personnel, vehicles and other materials, were
able to take on the task of desert locust control, with the support of
several partnerships. The vehicles and materials of the Maghreb
Force provided by BID-CLCPANO was especially helpful for terrestrial
surveillance. Aerial
and logistical teams, and resources including pesticides were acquired
largely thanks to the support of partner organisations. An
average of 4–6 teams were assembled every year to ensure surveillance
and control in the two zones of reproduction (summer and winter-spring).
During invasions, the number of ground teams exceeded forty, with
another ten or so aerial teams. This activity allowed the compilation of a database of more than 15 years' acridological and meteorological information. Introduction to the CentreThe
Desert Locust Centre (Centre de Lutte Antiacridienne, CLAA) is a
government body dedicated to the control of the desert locust. It
operates under the direction of the Agriculture Department
of the Ministry for Rural Development and the Environment (Ministère du
Développement Rural et de l’Environnement, MDRE). It
was created by a ministerial order (no. 00397) in 1995 and has an
administrative centre in Nouakchott, a logistics base in Aioun el-Atrous
(Hodh el-Gharbi region) and a research station in Akjoujt (Inchiri). It
has complete autonomy in managing its resources. The
Centre's activities contribute to the fight against poverty and to the
security of food supplies, in Mauritania and neighbouring countries. The
Centre is charged with the monitoring and control of the desert locust,
throughout Mauritania. To pursue this objective it:
Surveillance,
control and research activities often take place over exceptionally
difficult terrain. The centre has a permanent staff of around forty, made up of senior managers, scientists and technicians as well as drivers, sprayers, caretakers and other workers. Together, our employees have not only great experience in all the different disciplines of locust control (biology, ecology, botany etc.) but also excellent knowledge of the country itself and techniques required for operation in the desert. In periods of increased activity technical personal are seconded from other parts of the MDRE: they operate as reservists, receiving regular training when not actively employed by the Centre. A force of occasional support workers is also recruited as required. For photos of our permanent staff, click here.
Organisation of the Centre The Centre receives an annual budget from the Government. In response to locust situations, it is also assisted by different partner organisations working for the development of Mauritania, in particular the FAO through CLCPRO and the EMPRES programme, and by numerous other bilateral and multilateral partnerships. The Centre possesses a range of vehicles and scientific and technical equipment provided by the Government and partner organisations. Activities of the Centre From year to year, the number of teams varies with locust population. In an average period of recession, 4—6 teams will survey the summer breeding area for 4—6 months and 2 or 3 teams will survey the winter-spring area for 2—4 months. However, in a year of invasion, the number of teams can rise to more than 40. The composition of a team (personnel, vehicles, materials) varies according to the exact action to be undertaken and the level of locust activity, but whatever its size, it will be led by a technician known as a prospector. He will be trained in the different techniques of locust survey and control; some of our prospectors have more than 30 years' experience. During a mission, a team works seven day weeks. It will typically travel 150km per day, depending on terrain and the presence of locusts or conditions favorable to them. This distance excludes travel between the field and the logistics base. Mission lengths vary from a few weeks to several months, again depending on the locust situation. Teams stop to make observations whenever they find locust populations or favorable environmental conditions. When high densities of locusts are found along with favourable ecological conditions, a decision is taken on whether to control the population. The decision depends on the numbers, developmental stage and location of the locusts, as well as on the resources available. Pesticides and application methods are chosen so as to provide control that does as little environmental harm as possible. The Centre exclusively uses ultra low volume (ULV) spraying, typically applying between 0.5 and 1l of pesticide per hectare. Some hours after a treatment operation, the target area is inspected and a mortality rate is calculated. The Centre is constantly looking to improve its methods, making sure that pesticides are used efficiently and with minimal environmental impact. It is involved in research into reduced dosage application and new, alternative pesticides such as the fungal biopesticide Metharrizium anisoplae. The Centre also has a continual programme to monitor the health of its spray technicians. Acridological data come mainly from terrestrial or aerial teams engaged in survey or control opertaions. The majority are provided by the terrestrial teams who regularly travel through the accessible parts of the breeding zones. Surveys are coordinated to cover potentially active breeding zones; this in turn is linked closely with rainfall. All observations are noted by the prospector in his mission log. The formats for recording and tranmitting acridological and environmental data are based on those found in the CLCPANO/FAO Prospector's Manual, OCLALAV's message format and scientific reference works, and adapted to the current needs and constraints in management of locust control operations. Information passed on to teams by other sources is also transmitted and then collated centrally. A message contains: the current position of a team; a summary of the itinerary followed; observations of locusts, ecology and meteorology; details of any control operations, reported sightings or problems encountered; and the programme for the following day. Teams are equipped with tools for navigation (compasses, maps, GPS receivers) and for collecting specimens (nets, containers) and weather data (anemometers, thermometers). Environmental data (minimum and maximum temperatures, humidity, wind speed and direction, soil moisture and type) are recorded three times per day (at 07:00, 12:00 and 18:00). Tempertaure and humidity are measured 1.5m from the ground, turning the psychrometer manually for one minute. The soil moisture is evaluated at a depth of 20cm and the soil type is noted. Wind direction and wind speed in metres per second are measured with a compass and a DWYER anemometer. Rainfall is classed in four levels: trace, low, moderate and high. The percentage coverage and level of greenness of vegetation are recorded, as is the stage of development of annual plants, on a five-step scale. The main perennial and annual species present (normally at least three of each) are noted in order of abundance. Detailed data is gathered on locusts: their phase, stage of development, behaviour, sexual maturity and density as well as the area infested. Soil moisture is an important factor in assessing a biotope's potential for breeding. If the soil is wet on the surface, the depth of the wet layer is measured and recorded in centimetres; if the soil is dry on the surface, the depth of the dry layer is recorded. Density is evaluated using the method appropriate for the level of population: either transect, mean interband distance or quadrant. The standard methodologies published by the FAO are followed. We record control operations in precise detail, including quantity and type of pesticides used, the target of the treatment, the area and coordinates of the site sprayed as well as the rate of mortality and the time after which this figure was recorded. A message summarising the days data is prepared by each team in the evening and transmitted by radio to the Information Unit the following day. However, messages requiring urgent action may be transmitted immediately. Three to six times are allocated each day for radio contact between the teams and Information Unit. Tranismission of each message takes 5 to 15 minutes, depending on locust activity but also on the quality of radio reception which varies with position and atmospheric conditions. Received messages are analysed immediately on receipt by the Centre and, after assessment of the level of risk and urgency, any necessary action is taken. The messages are carefully archived both as hard copies and on a computer database, RAMSES. Created by the FAO and the Natural Resources Institute in London with DFID and USAID support, RAMSES is a PC-based geographical information system for managing locust and related environmental data. It is designed to support early warning systems for desert locust upsurges and plagues by helping national locust units manage, analyse, and disseminate data. In RAMSES the user can view monthly information about the desert locust: the geographical position, age, behaviour and size of a population and whether it has been controlled. The distribution of locusts can also be studied in relation to the main habitat types in a seasonal breeding area. Historical and meteorological data can be used along with satellite images of vegetation to model the potential development of a population. A precursor to RAMSES, a program called Locdat, was conceived in collaboration with GTZ and the University of Bale (NLU) and was used by the Centre from 1999. This database has now been incorporated into RAMSES. The consolidated database contains more than 25 000 records of hundreds of variables, from as far back as 1968. Data are also sometimes received from regional bodies of the MDRE or other sources (local government, the Army etc.). They too inform the overall picture and are archived. Bulletins summarizing the situation are prepared either daily or ten-daily during the season of locust activity and used at regional, national and international levels. The quality and regularity of such information produced by all the countries affected by the desert locust was evaluated in a comparative study by the FAO. Mauritania was ranked first, with an overall performance rating of 88% over the years studied. This research was presented at the 34th meeting of the DLCC (Desert Locust Control Committee) in 1997. The contributions of farmers and nomads The welfare of these groups is part of the reason for desert locust control and they themselves are partners in the work of the Centre: primarily, they provide us with information, though they also carry out locust control around cultivated areas. In recession periods, nomads can provide 50% of data, with information sent directly to the CLAA or via meetings with teams in the field. The Centre is very keen to maintain this important cooperation. The Centre organises regular training for its management and technical staff as well as for its reserve personnel in the other parts of the MDRE. It runs educational programmes for farmers and nomads in the main national languages. Funding for this activity comes from the Government and partner organisations. The Centre is also privileged to be involved with advanced — doctoral and post-doc — studies. The Centre is home to 4 research scientists and several specialist managers. Its research station is situated in a zone permanently inhabited by solitarious-phase locusts and is available to the FAO for scientists from all the regions of the desert locust habitat. Research carried out locally often involves collaboration with international partners such as the FAO, GTZ, CIRAD-Prifas, EPHE, USAID, the USDA, Oxford University and the Station Ornithologue Suisse. Research projects have covered all aspects of the bioecology if the desert locust, techniques of pesticide application, alternative control methods and the extent and possible reduction of environmental impact. The Centre has an environmental policy which takes into account all relevant laws and agreements, both national and international, as well as accepted best practice with regards to the preservation of the environment. It pays particular attention to the recommendations of the FAO's Pesticide Consultation Group, USAID's Supplementary Environmental Assessment and the findings of the FAOLOCUSTOX project. During control campaigns, accompanying measures taken include a programme to build awareness of safety precautions, broadcast on national radio and aimed at farmers and nomads. Finally, the teams maintain rigorous standards for managing waste to minimise the environmental impact of their presence in the field. The Centre has developed its own system for internal evaluation of its work: annual days of reflection and criticism are organised, with a format inspired by ZOPP, Germany. They are moderated by an independent consultant and bring together the entire staff of the CLAA. The problems encountered during the year across all areas of the Centre's activities (technical, logistical, administrative etc.) are enumerated and their causes are identified; the execution and follow-up of agreed solutions are delegated. The reports that these exercises yield are essential elements for planning the sustained development of the Centre as an organisation. The Centre has, from its beginnings, developed a large network of scientific and technical partners at national, regional and international levels. They include the FAO, universities, other research institutions. Equally, the Centre shares its experience with all other locust-affected countries through visits and exchanges of experts, generally with the support of partner organisations. The Centre's work in Desert Locust Control and Research has been recognized by the World Exposition. Medals are awarded to selected projects in the domains of Nature, Humankind and Technology and the CLAA was the among the recipients at EXPO 2000 in Hannover.
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