FAOR with the PPD Director in front of the Malathion shipment to Ethiopia

Khartoum- In 2020, the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) outbreaks in the Horn of Africa affected the African Countries in the region including Sudan, threatened the food security and livelihood of the rural population in the areas, which have been invaded by huge number of swarms. In Sudan, the winter season breeding areas were mostly affected.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), mobilized resources from  different development partners to support the Sudanese Plant Protection Department (PPD), addressing the resource gaps for conducting monitoring, surveillance and control operations for Desert Locust in Sudan. The important logistics items provided to PPD include vehicles, trucks, pesticide sprayers of different types, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), camping equipment.

FAO delivered 70,400 metric liters of Malathion pesticide to the PPD to fight the infestations of the desert locust.

As the Desert locust is a serious pest globally, it poses threats to many countries in Africa and beyond. Monitoring, surveillance and control operations necessitate collective efforts from all neighboring countries as well as development partners from the globe to minimize its negative impact on the food security and livelihood of the most vulnerable population in rural areas.

Desert locusts threatens food security and livelihoods by feeding on and destroying  crops in amounts equivalent to their weight. A small swarm of locusts in size of one square kilometer can eat the food of 35,000 people per day. The desert locusts are considered one of the major threats and if the fight slows down it could be the cause of hunger, which even can affect the socio economic and political stability of countries.

“Ethiopia is facing the desert locust infestations and they really need the support of the neighboring countries and development partners, to help bring this desert locust infestation under control, they requested Sudan to help with the pesticide”,  said Babagana Ahmadu, FAO Representative in Sudan.

“Now we have secured stock of 50,000 metric liters of Malathion pesticide to be transported to Ethiopia, to help the country in dealing with the locust infestation”, Ahmadu added.

The Malathion pesticide is one of the most important organophosphorus pesticides, among the list of chemical pesticides, recommended by FAO for control of Desert Locust as well as for control of other insects. It is environmentally save pesticide, of less Hazard to the environment and to the people, dealing with it in the control operations.

As PPD in Sudan is one of the most experienced institution on Desert Locust Control Operations in the East African region, FAO is now working on establishment of Locust Management Training Centre in Sudan, to strengthen the capacity to control Desert Locust not only in Sudan but across the East African Region.   

“We thank FAO for their continuous support in combating this dangerous infestation in Sudan and in the neighboring countries. We received through FAO, 70,400 metric liters from Malathion pesticide during the fierce attack of the desert locust swarms.’’, Kamal Suleiman, the Director General of the PPD said.

‘’Currently our position is better than in Ethiopia, and the situation is under our control. We decided to lend Ethiopia 50, 000 metric liters of Malathion pesticide, because we know that cooperation in the fight against this infestation is a duty, and its infestation can affect all the neighboring countries, therefore, the control operations that take place in the neighboring countries will mitigate the desert locust invasions in the whole region.”, Suleiman added.

  “We hope that the Ethiopian authorities will be receiving the pesticide at the right time. It is our pleasure to hand play a role in handing over the pesticide to Ethiopia,” Ahmadu said.

Despite of the political unrest between Sudan and Ethiopia, FAO succeeded in playing the positive mediator role by facilitating the lending of 50,000 liters of Malathion pesticide to combat desert locust swarms within Ethiopia as part of cooperation between neighboring countries to reduce the risk of the swarms moving to Sudan.