Regional Control of the Red Locust, Nomadacris Septemfasciata (Serville), in the First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The development of a regional control strategy for the red locust, Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville) began in the 1920s during a period when red, desert and African migratory locust swarms were widespread in Africa. The strategy involved controlling locusts in their permanent breeding areas to prevent swarms escaping over a much larger invasion area and damaging crops and pasture. Mapping and analysis of reports at the Imperial Institute of Entomology in London and field research in the Rukwa and Mweru wa Ntipa areas confirmed the location of two important red locust outbreak areas, and by the mid-1930s implementation of a preventative control strategy became a practical proposition. Regional control against red locusts formally came into being in 1941 under impetus from the Belgian and British Governments and collaborative surveying and control work continued despite the Second World War. Locust swarm activity intensified in the mid 1940s and other outbreak areas were found, raising the profile of the threat red locusts posed to food security. As a result, international collaboration in research, control and information dissemination was formalised in 1945 through the formation of the IRLCO-CSA.