The Desert Locust situation is improving in western Mauritania where ground control operations continue against small groups of hoppers and adults as a result of an outbreak that developed in early October. During the past five days, locust densities and control operations have declined compared to earlier this month. Most of the hoppers have reached their last stage of maturity and are now fledging into immature adults. Consequently, ground teams are finding less targets to treat but remain in the field to monitor the situation carefully.
In the extreme south of Morocco, ground teams treated very small bands of first and second instar hoppers near Tichla in the Western Sahara. These infestations developed from adults that arrived from outbreak areas in Mauritania during early October. They laid eggs in mid-October when light rains fell, which hatched during the second week of November. Similar breeding may have occurred in nearby areas but probably on a very limited scale.
Given the effectiveness of current control operations, a high level of preparedness in the region, and a lack of significant rainfall, it is expected that the outbreak should be under control by early December. Thereafter, only low numbers of locusts are likely to remain in parts of western and northern Mauritania and Western Sahara where small-scale breeding could occur if ecological conditions are favorable. There is no threat at present to other countries in the region.
