Regional Differences in Control Operations during the 2019–2021 Desert Locust Upsurge

Agronomy

Rebekah G. K. Hinton¹  Christopher A. Gilligan¹  Renata Retkute¹  Keith Cressman² 

[1] Epidemiology and Modelling Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK;Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy;

关键词: desert locusts;    control;    crop loss;    pastureland;    land cover;   

DOI  :  10.3390/agronomy11122529

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The desert locust remains a major threat to global food security. Control operations are a crucial tool to manage crisis; this research investigated the nature of control operations conducted between 2019–2021. Historical data on desert locust and control operations were obtained from the survey reports at the FAO Locust Hub and analysed with respect to survey reports, land cover types, cropland/rangeland extent and crop productivity data. We found that 16.1% of the grid cells with locust presence and 14.9% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of rangeland higher than 0.75; while 13.3% of the grid cells with locust presence and 13.2% of the grid cells with control operations had a proportion of croplands higher than 0.75, highlighting that locust presence and control operations were reported in both rangeland and cropland. Control operations continue to be used both to reduce overall locust numbers and to protect crops. Furthermore, through identifying which crops were most at risk, our analyses indicate that wheat production was under the highest strain during periods of increased locust infestations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown