Editing Locust (section)

=== Monitoring ===

[[File:Eugenio Morales en el Sáhara Español (1942).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Eugenio Morales Agacino]] on expedition monitoring locusts in the desert of [[Spanish Sahara]], 1942]]

Early intervention to prevent large locust swarms is more successful than later action once swarms have built up. The means to control locust populations is now available, but organisational, financial, and political problems may be difficult to overcome. Monitoring is the key to early detection and eradication. Ideally, a sufficient proportion of nomadic bands can be killed with insecticide before their swarming phase. This may be possible in richer countries like Morocco and Saudi Arabia, but neighbouring poorer countries such as [[Mauritania]] and [[Yemen]] lack the resources and may breed locust swarms that threaten the whole region.<ref name=Showler/>

Several organisations around the world monitor the threat from locusts. They provide forecasts detailing regions likely to suffer from locust plagues in the near future. In Australia, this service is provided by the [[Australian Plague Locust Commission]].<ref name="Role">{{cite web |url=http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/locusts/role |title=Role of the Australian Plague Locust Commission |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=14 June 2011 |website=Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |access-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715013827/http://daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/locusts/role |archive-date=15 July 2014 }}</ref> It has been very successful in dealing with developing outbreaks, but has the great advantage of having a defined area to monitor and defend without locust invasions from elsewhere.<ref name=Krall>{{cite book |author1=Krall, S.|author2=Peveling, R.|author3=Diallo, B.D. |title=New Strategies in Locust Control |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6ndBQiTiRAC |year=1997 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-7643-5442-8 |pages=4–6}}</ref> In Central and Southern Africa, the service is provided by the International Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa.<ref name=FAOTanzania>{{cite web|title=Red Locust disaster in Eastern Africa prevented|url=http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/21084/icode/|publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization|access-date=1 April 2015|date=24 June 2009|archive-date=22 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322192624/https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/21084/icode/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In West and Northwest Africa, the service is co-ordinated by the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]]'s Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region, and executed by locust control agencies belonging to each country concerned.<ref>{{cite web|title=Countries take responsibility for regional desert locust control|url=http://www.fao.org/in-action/countries-take-responsibility-for-regional-desert-locust-control/en/|publisher=FAO|access-date=2 April 2015|date=2015}}</ref> The FAO monitors the situation in the Caucasus and Central Asia, where over 25 million hectares of cultivated land are under threat.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts-CCA/en/1010/ |title=Locusts in Caucasus and Central Asia |work=Locust Watch |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization |access-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> In February 2020, in an effort to end massive locust outbreaks, India decided to use drones and special equipment to monitor locusts and spray insecticides.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-locusts-idUSKBN20D1X9 |title=India buys drones, specialist equipment to avert new locust attack |date=2020-02-19 |work=Reuters |access-date=2020-02-20 |language=en}}</ref>