UN AGENCY APPEALS FOR URGENT FUNDS TO CONTROL LOCUST PLAGUE THREATENING MADAGASCAR

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 26 Jun 2013 12:00:00 -0400
Subject: UN AGENCY APPEALS FOR URGENT FUNDS TO CONTROL LOCUST PLAGUE
THREATENING MADAGASCAR
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

UN AGENCY APPEALS FOR URGENT FUNDS TO CONTROL LOCUST PLAGUE
THREATENING MADAGASCARNew York, Jun 26 2013 12:00PMThe United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today urgently appealed for
$22 million to tackle the locust plague that has already infested over
half of Madagascar's cultivated land and pastures and threatens to
trigger a severe food crisis in the island nation.

Funding is needed to start a large-scale control campaign in time for
the next crop planting season in September, the agency stated
in<"http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/178657/icode/"> a news
release, adding that its emergency appeals for Madagascar remain
"severely underfunded."

With the plague "largely uncontrolled", FAO expects that two-thirds of
the country will be infested by locusts by September. At stake are the
food security and livelihoods of some 13 million people, or nearly 60
per cent of the population. Nine million of those people are directly
dependent on agriculture for food and income.

"If we don't act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of
millions of dollars. This could very well be a last window of
opportunity to avert an extended crisis," said FAO Director-General
José Graziano da Silva, who stressed that prevention and early action
are key.

The agency pointed out that timely control of the locust upsurge in
Madagascar at an early stage would have cost $14.5 million in
2011-2012. However, FAO only received half the necessary funding.
Another campaign had to be launched, but that received barely a
quarter of the required funds in 2011-2012, it added.

Funding will need to be allocated by July to have all the supplies and
personnel in place to mount a wide-scale anti-locust campaign starting
in September, FAO said.

"FAO's locust control programme needs to be fully funded in order to
monitor the locust situation throughout the whole contaminated area
and to carry out well-targeted aerial control operations," stated the
agency.

"Otherwise, undetected or uncontrolled locust populations will
continue to breed and produce more swarms. The plague would therefore
last several years, controlling it will be lengthier and more
expensive and it will severely affect food security, nutrition and
livelihoods."

The full programme that is needed to return the locust plague to a
recession requires over $41.5 million over the next three years. The
programme includes: improving the monitoring and analysis of the
locust situation; large-scale aerial and ground spraying and related
training; monitoring and mitigating the effect of control operations
on health and the environment; and measuring the impact of anti-locust
campaigns and the damages to crops and pasture.

A recent FAO assessment mission on the impact of the current locust
plague in Madagascar found that rice and maize losses due to the
locusts in some parts of the country vary from 40 to 70 per cent of
the crop, with 100 per cent losses on certain plots.

A joint UN crop and food security assessment mission is currently on
the ground to measure the locust's damages to food security and
livelihoods. More detailed data analysis will be available in July,
but the resources to start preparation for the field actions have to
be available now, FAO stressed.

The agency estimates that losses in rice production could be up to
630,000 tonnes, or about 25 per cent of total demand for rice in
Madagascar. Rice is the main staple in the country, where 80 per cent
of the population lives on less than a dollar per day. Jun 26 2013
12:00PM
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