Locusts have been spotted in southern Morocco.
It is raining this year in North Africa, and while rain is one of the most precious resources, in some regions it is also synonymous with a calamity worse than drought: locusts.
Last week, we saw clouds moving up from Goulmim towards Tiznit and Taroudant, posing a very serious risk to this agricultural region. It seems that the FAO’s October bulletin, which did not predict any locust infestation, was overly optimistic.
It’s difficult to control locusts.
The only effective control is between egg laying and flight. After that, it is too late; the clouds simply disperse when the spray planes pass by, only to reform. Locusts are afraid of noise. Once the clouds have formed, you can try to smoke them out a little; children shout to try to scare them away when they arrive in the fields.
These methods may be effective on small, less dense colonies or on isolated individuals, but not on actual swarms. Furthermore, this simply shifts the problem to the neighbour.
Political borders, unknown to insects, unfortunately prevent effective control between sub-Saharan countries that are too poor to truly eradicate the scourge and Algeria, which is reluctant to spend money in its desert to help Morocco. The nesting areas are located on the common border between Algeria, Mauritania and Mali.
A year ago, locusts passed through Mezgarne, fortunately in an isolated area, and the damage was limited.
The photos illustrating this article were taken three years ago, on the track between M'semrir and Tamtatouchte. The locusts are red because they have not yet reached maturity. When they have finished developing, they turn yellow.
When the clouds are really large and have eaten all the vegetation, they can even devour cotton and plant fibre fabrics.
The only positive aspect of locusts is that they are apparently a delicacy. A kilo of locusts sells for around 60 dirhams in Morocco, the same price as meat.
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