A Desert Locust adult can consume roughly its own weight per day , i.e. about two grams, in fresh crops. A 1 km2 size swarm contains about 40 million locusts, which can, therefore, eat the same amount of food in a day as about 35,000 people, 20 camels or 6 elephants.

This pest is a serious menace to agricultural production in the Near East, Southwest Asia and Africa. Locusts swarms can wipe out crops located hundreds of kilometres from their places of origin and create starvation conditions in regions that are already financially challenged and vulnerable to food security.

Collecting information on Desert Locust movements and update reliable warning and controlling systems, is, therefore, essential to avoid or limit damages resulting from Desert Locusts swarms.

This is why one of the mandates of the FAO Commission for Controlling Desert Locusts in the Central Region (CRC) is to provide information on the general locust situation to all concerned countries, to give timely warnings and forecasts to those countries in danger of invasion and strengthen the control capacity of the member countries.

It is in this framework and as part of the cooperation between CRC and the National Center for Locust Control and Research at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the 4th Regional Training Course on Aerial Desert Locust Survey and Control Operations will be hosted in Jeddah.

Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, along with representatives from Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa and from the Desert Locust Commission in west Africa (CLCPRO), will take part in the training to be held in Jeddah from 24 to 28 November 2013.

Desert locust biology, behaviour, and distribution, information collection and reporting are just a few of the topics that the training will bring forward to improve member countries capacities in Desert Locust aerial survey and control operations.