Since April 2012, Madagascar has been facing a plague of the Malagasy Migratory Locust, that threatens the livelihoods of 13 million people in the country, nine million of whom earn a living from agriculture.
Two-thirds of the country could be infested by September 2013. Findings from a damage assessment conducted in May 2013 indicate that rice crop losses due to locusts in 2012/13 vary from 10 to 40 percent in 17 of Madagascar’s 22 regions.
The Ministry of Agriculture of Madagascar declared a national disaster on 27 November 2012 and requested assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to address the current locust plague.
It is estimated that at least three successive locust control campaigns costing USD 41.5 million are required to treat over 2 million hectares between September 2013 and September 2016 (1.5 million hectares in 2013/14; 500 000 hectares in 2014/15 and 150 000 hectares in 2015/16).
The three-year programme jointly prepared by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture in response to the plague, implemented and coordinated by FAO, focuses on:
Improving the monitoring and analysis of the locust situation
Large-scale aerial control operations
Monitoring and mitigating the impact of locust control operations on human health and the environment
Assessing the effectiveness of each locust campaign and the impact of locusts on crops and pastures
The current funding gap is USD 24.8 million of which USD 5.7 million are still urgently required for FAO to be able to carry out an effective large-scale locust campaign in 2013/14 and USD 19.1 million are required for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 campaigns. Should all the funds not be available on time to undertake the campaigns, the plague could wipe out food crops and livestock pastures – and with it, a family’s ability to provide for itself.