Locust Plagues and the Dieldrin Controversy

The accepted strategy for the control of locust plagues is to check an upsurge of population before swarms break out and start a widespread plague. The organisation, men and materials necessary for this work must be established before locust plagues are imminent. Primary targets for control are the hoppers. Red locust hoppers can be efficiently controlled only by vegetation baiting with dieldrin. The ULV drift-spraying method of application is particularly successful. Objections to the use of dieldrin on environmental grounds have been put forward but are without substance when the recommended method is used. A small aircraft can blanket spray 5,000 ha/h using the ultra low dosages necessary for desert locust hoppers. Three such aircraft could cope with the area of red locust hopper outbreaks although the dosage necessary for these is likely to be higher in the denser vegetation of their habitat. Field trials to establish the lowest dosage rate for red locust hoppers are urgently required. If the facilities and resources needed to control locust plagues are not made available, it is hoped that FAO will provide expert teams to survey the economic and social effects of a locust plague, by investigation on the spot, so that responsibility can be assigned and an accurate history can be drawn up for the guidance of future governments. At the present time, governments have the choice of providing what is needed in the confident expectation of preventing plagues, or providing too little or nothing which will, sooner or later, inevitably lay a plague on their doorsteps.