‘A War of Man Against Locust’! Locust Invasions and Anti-locust Campaigns in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, 1918–1940s

Abstract

This article traces the scourge of locust plagues in the Salisbury district of Southern Rhodesia, and examines state and settler strategies to combat successive outbreaks between 1918 and 1951. Focusing on the Red and Brown migratory locust, we explore the origins and extent of locust recurrent plagues, and examine the efficacy of the campaigns that were embarked on to mitigate the impact of the scourge. Although the plagues presented Southern Rhodesia with a difficult challenge to its fledgling agricultural sector, this subject has escaped the attention of historians, with most narratives focusing on undercapitalisation, the impact of environmental challenges and the role of the colonial state in general in the development of commercial agriculture. Thus, by exploring natural disasters, we seek to fill this gaping lacunae in the agrarian historiography of colonial Zimbabwe. Employing primary data, we argue that, to the extent that the campaigns did not involve other countries in the Southern African region, the campaigns carried out during the period under review fell short on mitigating the impact of locust scourge in the country. It was only after the International Red Locust Services took a well-coordinated campaign that the locust scourge was brought under control.