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At the request of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a team of top-notch Israelis pounced on the country ravaged by war, storm and famine on November 11 to help fight a new plague: the desert locusts.
Currently on the ground in the eastern Somali region of the country, the Israeli delegation is testing an innovative technique of drone surveillance and targeted night fumigation, which will reduce the amount of pesticides.
As the country faces a civil war in the north and massive floods from Cyclone Gati, locust swarms have invaded the country and are affecting more than 70,000 homes.
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To combat the spread of the threat, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi dispatched a four-man team, led by Dr. Yoav Motro, a lobster expert at Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture.
“It is the worst it has been in 75 years. And a tropical cyclone that hit the eastern part of the region in recent days will only complicate things, ”Motro told The Times of Israel. “Keep in mind that these regions do not deal with lobsters on a regular basis, which makes their preparation and resistance difficult.”
According to local Ethiopian media, the team arrived with two tons of equipment, including 27 inspection drones, 2 generators, and a large amount of pesticide spray.
Keith Cressman, Senior Lobster Forecasting Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), told The Times of Israel: “As Cyclone Gati developed over the weekend, the situation Today is similar to that of a year ago when another cyclone, Pawan, brought heavy rains to the area. These rains allow the desert locust to reproduce and rapidly increase in numbers. ”
The Israeli locust task force leaves Israel on November 11, 2020 for Ethiopia to suppress the spread of desert locust swarms. (Embassy of Israel in Ethiopia)
Without drastic measures, the situation for locusts is likely to worsen, according to FAO’s Nov. 19 report on Ethiopia, as hatching of eggs and the formation of new swarms are expected to continue into November and beyond.
In part, the mission of the Israeli team, which includes a logistics officer, a drone pilot and a scout, and a fumigation expert, is to teach 300 local Ethiopians how to use donated equipment to continue the war against winged invaders.
Motro, the head of vertebrates and snails at the Ministry of Agriculture, is using brains and strength to fight locusts: his team tracks them during the day and sprays them at night while the insects sleep.
Desert locust pair (FAO / DLIS)
At a press conference on November 11, Motro said: “We found in Israel that during the night, the locusts hardly move and that is our moment. We will use his weak point to our advantage in this fight against the locust; it’s like a war. “
FAO’s Cressman said: “This is a new technique that is being tested, taking advantage of current locust infestations in the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia.”
We will use his weak point to our advantage in this fight against the locust; it’s like a war
The Israeli embassy in Ethiopia describes the desert locust as “one of the most destructive pests, as it is very mobile and [feeds] in large quantities of any type of green vegetation, including crops, grasses and forages. “The last large swarm in Israel took place in 2013.
Illustrative: Swarms of desert locusts fly into the air from crops in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya, Jan. 24, 2020 (AP Photo / Ben Curtis)
According to the Cressman Desert Locust Information Service forecast, a new generation of immature swarms is expected to form in the Horn of Africa in early December. “Left unchecked, DL will move south and threaten southeastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and northeastern Kenya,” the report read.
Keith Cressman, Senior Locust Prediction Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (Courtesy of FAO)
However, all is not lost. “This time around, countries are now much better prepared and equipped, resources are in place, and teams are already conducting ground and air operations in the breeding areas of Ethiopia and Somalia to reduce the scale of a possible swarm invasion. to Kenya next month. ” Cressman said.
At the same time, to combat the dual problem of insects and the destruction they leave behind, the UN estimates a need of some $ 79 million in Ethiopia alone, of which the United Nations Organization for Agriculture and Food has received so far $ 30.9 million. for pest control and $ 16.4 million to guarantee the livelihoods of the most affected farmers.
“So far, the response has been very generous from the international community given other crises at this time,” Cressman said. “However, it will be absolutely necessary to maintain the efforts and maintain the vital monitoring and control operations necessary for the situation to return to normal. But for this to happen, there will also need to be a pause in the rains that has not occurred so far in the last two years. “
Illustrative: A locust swarm near Eilat in 2004 (Yehuda Ben-Itah / Flash90)
The most common method of lobster control is aerial spraying. According to the UN FAO, tests of eight days of spraying with the biopesticide Novacrid have shown a 50 percent decrease in locust populations.
One of the most troublesome issues faced by those tracking and trying to eradicate swarms is reliable and timely data on their movements. “Security disruptions and lack of communication continue to affect data collection and transmission in some areas,” the UN report writes.
FAO recently expanded its eLocust3 tracking technology to allow it to work on smartphones and GPS devices. “All the options work offline and transmit the same georeferenced data in real time to the national locust centers. Secondary and new staff with little knowledge of lobsters can easily use any of these options, ”the website writes.
Desert locust risk forecast (FAO / DLIS)
Some of this necessary lobster training is taking place now: according to the Israeli embassy in Ethiopia, the Israeli task force will operate in Ethiopia for two weeks, “during which it will demonstrate and train more than 200 Ethiopian locust fighters , government agencies and international organizations representing organizations “.
Motro emphasized his team’s mission to leave behind Ethiopia’s own “crack team” of lobster experts. “The Israeli effort is different than the UN (FAO) effort in that the Israeli mission empowers locals with training and equipment to fight locusts, rather than doing the work for them,” he said. “We are coordinated with FAO and we appreciate the work of others,” he added.
Wishing the Israeli team great success, Israeli Agriculture Minister Alon Schuster said: “Along with our role in bringing food security to the citizens of the State of Israel and [strengthening] local agriculture, we also have a responsibility to repair the world. We are committed to assisting in the production of food for human beings wherever they are and to participate in the global fight to improve the standard of living in the developing world. “
Illustrative: A farmer watches as swarms of desert locusts feed on his crops, in Katitika village, Kitui county, Kenya, January 24, 2020. (AP Photo / Ben Curtis)
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