FAO Director-General visits Mauritania's National Centre for Desert Locust Control
16/04/2024
The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, visited Mauritania's National Centre for Desert Locust Control today as part of a two-day visit to the northwestern African country. The Director-General was accompanied by Mauritania's Minister of Agriculture, His Excellency Umm Ould Bibateh, who underscored the importance of the visit in opening up promising horizons in the longstanding cooperation between Mauritania and FAO.
Desert Locust: Managing the Pest and Protecting People and the Environment
26/03/2024
Fusarium Wilt TR4: Prevention is the key to keep the disease at bay in bananas, experts advise
15/03/2024
Experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have called on countries to invest in prevention measures against the Banana Fusarium Wilt caused by Tropical Race 4 (TR4) as it is key to control and delay the spread of the disease into new areas.
Scaling up training in drone use in desert locust survey and surveillance in the Central Region
11/03/2024
Lack of appropriate locust monitoring and preparedness has been identified as major constraints that affect desert locust management. Other challenges include inaccessibility of some regions by vehicles or field officers due to lack of roads, difficult terrains, and insecurity.
Putting the brakes on spread of Banana Bunchy Top disease threatening banana production in Tanzania
11/03/2024
Banana cultivation in Tanzania is being threatened by the presence of the banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) first detected in 2020 in Kigoma region. The disease is widespread in susceptible cultivars in eleven major banana-growing regions: Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Geita, Katavi, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Morogoro, Mwanza, and Pwani.
FAO intensifies training of trainers in desert locust survey and reporting for locust officers in the Central Region
03/01/2024
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted intensive training in desert locust survey and reporting for locust officers from Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia. This training was a follow up of a regional Training of Trainers course on desert locust survey and reporting techniques held last year.
Application of modern technologies revolutionizes desert locust monitoring and control
26/02/2024
Modern technology has much to offer for effective desert locust monitoring and control. This includes surveillance drones and their accompanying infrastructure technology, such as the system for data collection in the field and RAMSES (Reconnaissance And Management System of the Environment of Schistocerca), which is a custom software application comprising a database and a Geographic Information System (GIS) that stores the georeferenced results of survey and control operations.
Mastering the locust features for sustainable management of the devastating pest
29/01/2024
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) delivered a module on locust morphology and taxonomy to students of the master’s in Acridology at the Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II (IAV) in Agadir, Morocco.
The course aimed to reinforce the knowledge of the first-year master’s students on the morphological features of insects, with a focus on acridids (locusts and grasshoppers) so that they can identify them at different stages of their development. The two-year master's programme will equip the field technicians with skills to implement sustainable preventive measures against locusts.
Acting swiftly to curtail the spread of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle in the Marshall Islands
23/02/2024
In response to the outbreak of the coconut rhinoceros beetle in Majuro, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has taken action to mitigate the impact of the pest on food security and the livelihoods of the population.
The Marshall Islands government declared a state of emergency after discovering the beetle on the islands in September 2023.
Building resilience through Communication to safeguard livelihoods during recession and locust crisis periods
21/11/2023
Continuous communication should be maintained during recession and locust crisis periods to increase awareness and mitigate impacts and protect livelihoods. The message was echoed at the just concluded Communication training workshop for Communication focal points from Algeria...
SusaHamra: New Weapon in the Fight Against Red Palm Weevil
07/12/2023
FAO improving locust survey and reporting in the Central Region countries
28/10/2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) conducted a regional training on locust survey and reporting techniques for locust officers from breeding and invasion countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
The training of trainers targeted locust master trainers who will be able to transfer the skills and knowledge to their peers in their respective countries to conduct proper locust survey, monitoring and use proper reporting techniques.
FAO strengthening countries’ capacities in desert locust risk reduction in East Africa and the Middle East
04/12/2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is conducting a 5-day training workshop for technical officers in charge of desert locust control from East Africa and the Middle East, aimed to enhance preparedness of their countries to effectively respond to desert locust outbreaks and invasions.
Participants to the desert locust contingency planning workshop have been drawn from both breeding and invasion countries, and these include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, and Uganda.
Somalia joins FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region
03/11/2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) welcomes the Federal Government of Somalia to the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) as its 17th member.
Somalia's geographical location, historical significance in locust control, and contributions to the Locust Central Region Commission make it a crucial player in combating locusts in the Horn of Africa. Its membership in the CRC is a strategic step that will help to improve locust control efforts in the region.
FAO Locusts Management Programme organizes the Annual Technical Workshop for Caucasus and Central Asia countries
20/11/2023
Bishkek – The 13th annual Technical Workshop on Locust Management is being held under the “FAO’s Programme to Improve National and Regional Locust Management in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA)”. The workshop is organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in close cooperation with the Ministry of the Agriculture of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, with the financial support of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It gathers delegates from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as FAO experts and observers. It is the third time that Kyrgyzstan has hosted such an important workshop, since the start of the Programme in 2011.
FAO calls for a paradigm shift from reaction to prevention in locust and grasshopper management
30/10/2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has advocated for changing from reacting when there is an outbreak to preventing it through the use of the available innovative technologies in locust and grasshopper management, at the 14th International Congress of Orthopterology (ICO) held in Yucatán, Mexico. The Orthopterists' Society organized the Congress with the support of partners, including FAO with participants from 29 countries.
FAO experts delivered a seminar on locust control and transboundary plant pests to postgraduate students at CIHEAM-IAMB
14/11/2023
FAO supporting The Comoros in the emergency response to banana Fusarium wilt disease
22/09/2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is supporting the government of the Comoros to develop a national Action Plan to manage the banana Fusarium wilt (TR4) disease. The country confirmed the first case of banana Fusarium wilt (TR4) on Grande Comore Island early this year.
FAO and IAV Hassan II Join Forces to Strengthen Desert Locust Control through Cutting-Edge Acridology Master’s Program
13/07/2023
In a ceremony held at the Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II (IAV) in Agadir (Morocco), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and IAV Hassan II sealed a partnership by signing an agreement to establish a master’s program in Acridology. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in the ongoing Desert Locust sustainable preventive control strategy in the Western and Central regions.
Promoting innovative technologies to enhance Locust control strategies
10/07/2023
FAO and National Desert Locust Control Center in Morocco jointly organized a training session to deploy Locust Pesticides Management System (L-PMS) for Ethiopian plant protection personnel. The course, which runs 10-15 July 2023, is part of the larger project (GCP-INT-1032-USA) funded by USAID/BHA to reduce Desert Locust risks in the Central Region and the Horn of Africa. The project will be implemented in eight countries over the next four years, with the objective of safeguarding the food security and livelihoods of pastoral and rural populations.