Desert locusts gather on Tunisian-Libyan borders. Threat contained, for now!
The Ministry of Agriculture has announced the arrival of groups of desert locusts in the Dhehiba region of Tataouine Governorate, in the south of the country, following southerly winds.
Technical teams from the ministry arrived on-site and confirmed that the swarms are not massive and currently do not pose a threat to the region's vegetation.
The technical teams continue to conduct a comprehensive survey across the region to monitor the movements of the locusts.
All stakeholders at the central and regional levels have been mobilized to remain vigilant and intensify the pest control campaign.
Necessary equipment, spray machines, and pesticides have also been deployed to combat the locusts that have entered Tunisian territory.
The ministry confirmed that Sahel and North African countries are experiencing widespread locust infestations, particularly Libya, which is currently seeing a resurgence of the pest.
This is due to favorable conditions for locust reproduction, including rainfall and the availability of green vegetation, as reported by 'The Libya Observer'.
Tunisia safe for now
It has been established that Tunisia is currently safe from desert and migratory locusts. This was confirmed by Mouna Mhafdhi, the representative of the Director General of Plant Health and Agricultural Input Control at the Ministry of Agriculture, who stated that the ministry's services are periodically monitoring locust movements.
When asked about the potential threat posed by these destructive insects, which appeared in October 2024 in some regions of southern Libya, she clarified that Libyan authorities have successfully eradicated them.
She emphasized that these were African migratory locusts, not desert locusts, and therefore do not pose a threat to Tunisia.
According to her, desert locusts do not naturally reproduce in Tunisia: 'They can only invade countries like Tunisia if control measures are lacking in their natural habitat, the African Sahel. However, this is unlikely given the unfavorable climatic and ecological conditions.'
She also recalled that in the event of an invasion threat, locust control campaigns are governed by existing legal frameworks, including Government Decree No. 845 of 2018, which outlines the organization and operational procedures for anti-locust campaigns, and the Government decree of October 16, 2019, approving the national emergency anti-locust plan.
A significant threat to local food security, according to FAO
Desert locusts, typically found in the semi-arid and arid deserts of East Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, are voracious pests.
They can form large swarms and pose a significant threat to food security and local livelihoods, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Each new generation can be up to 20 times larger than the previous one, leading to exponential growth, the same source indicates.
A meeting of the National Locust Monitoring and Control Commission was convened by the Minister of Agriculture, during which preventive measures were taken to coordinate control efforts across border governorates.
It was agreed to strengthen local teams and establish a stockpile of pesticides in anticipation of further invasions.
The National Locust Control Commission remains in permanent session to monitor the evolving situation.
Finally, the ministry noted that small swarms of desert locusts are currently observed in Libya.
Tunisian authorities continue to maintain continuous surveillance of the situation since October 2024, in close collaboration with international experts, the FAO, and the Western Region Desert Locust Control Commission.
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