Morocco Launches Emergency Plan to Combat Potential Locust Threat

"Although the situation remains under control and does not cause concern at this stage, proactive and reactive measures have been deployed," the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement. These measures include, among others, the reactivation of command centers in all the provinces concerned to ensure close monitoring of the situation and to take the necessary measures in a timely manner; the mobilization of all available resources and the alerting of intervention means in case of need; the formation of specialized teams dedicated to monitoring and fighting locusts, equipped with modern equipment, suitable materials and pesticides and the deployment of logistical resources, including air resources, to ensure an effective and rapid response.

Means have been made available to the units: suitable equipment, motorized sprayers and approved plant protection products, so that they can intervene quickly, while ensuring the preservation of local ecological balances. "All operations are supervised in a way that protects biodiversity, water resources, local flora and fauna," the same source said. The national strategy includes the mobilization of all available human and material resources, the alerting of land and air intervention means, the activation of pesticide stocks deemed "sufficient to cope with any emergency," and above all, the establishment of intervention teams trained in surveillance, reconnaissance and swarm neutralization techniques.

The technical services of the State, in coordination with the sectors concerned, will remain mobilized in the coming weeks, in order to ensure rigorous monitoring of potential outbreaks and to intervene quickly in case of reporting, added the department of Abdelouafi Laftit.