Egypt

Egypt
Egypt is within:
Region:	Africa
Subregion:	Northern Africa

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Egypt is located in the northeastern part of Africa. It is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world. Egypt shares borders with the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Gaza Strip, Israel, and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The majority of Egypt's land is desert, with most agricultural areas concentrated along the Nile River and the Nile Delta. Rangelands are limited to a narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast, with a low capacity for grazing.

Egyptian agriculture is primarily characterized by smallholdings, with about half of the farms being smaller than 0.42 hectares. Almost all farming relies on irrigation. Since 1992, farmers have had the freedom to choose their crops, whereas before, the government dictated the crop patterns. Egypt faces moderate food insecurity, ranking 57th out of 125 countries. Key challenges include food affordability, quality, and safety, largely due to its dependence on international markets for more than half of staple food supplies.

Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria)) are a significant agricultural pest in Egypt. The country has been an iconic historical example of desert locust plagues, especially given the mention of locusts as one of the ten plagues inflicted on Pharaoh’s Egypt in the Old Testament.

Ecology

Egypt contains key breeding zones for the desert locust, especially in its southern region near the Sudanese border. During the winter, locusts breed along the Red Sea coast, including areas like Shalateen, Abu Ramad, and Halaib. In the summer, breeding occurs around Lake Nasser and Sharq Al-Oweinat. The estimated potential breeding area is approximately 49,000 km² in the winter and 5,000 km² in the summer.

Management and research

Outbreaks have caused significant agricultural damage throughout the history of human agriculture. Locust control in Egypt is overseen by the General Department for Locusts and Agro-Aviation Affairs (GDLAAA) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, based in Cairo. A General Director leads the department, which operates 13 main bases and 52 sub-bases, all equipped with vehicles and control materials. The GDLAAA employs 32 senior officers and around 1,100 technicians. Egypt is also part of the FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC).

|Click here to view a diagram of the structure of the General Department for Locusts Control and Agricultural Aviation Affairs in Egypt.

Species gallery

• Highlighted species for Egypt
• 
  Common digging grasshopper (Acrotylus insubricus)
• 
  Desert sand grasshopper (Sphingonotus rubescens)
• 
  Egyptian locust (Anacridium aegyptium)
• 
  Two-spotted cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus)
• 
  Mediterranean splendid grasshopper (Heteracris littoralis)
• 
  Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)

Organizations

Locusts and grasshoppers are typically managed through a national plant protection system led by a country’s plant protection organization, ministry of agriculture, or equivalent biosecurity authority. They are often supported by specialized pest control branches, natural resource agencies, and regional bodies when outbreaks cross borders. These agencies are usually the first point of contact for surveillance, reporting, permits, quarantine decisions, and control operations. If the country belongs to one of the FAO locust commissions, those bodies provide a regional framework for early warning, field surveillance, information sharing, and coordinated response, helping countries align monitoring, contingency planning, and control actions across borders.

Organization name	Acronym	Website	Type	Focus	Geographic purview
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region	CRC	View	Intergovernmental Organization	Management, Governance, Education, Information Hub	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia
FAO Desert Locust Control Committee	DLCC	View	Intergovernmental Organization	Development, Management, Governance	Afghanistan, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, [[United Arab Em...

Resources

Name	Species purview	Year published	Resource link	Descriptive keyword	Language	Geographic purview	Author
2014 evaluation of field trials data on the efficacy and selectivity of insecticides on locusts and grasshoppers		2014	View	Pesticides, Management, Pesticide management, Chemical control, Information hub	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Atlas of desert locust breeding habitats		1997		Breeding zones, Habitat, Map, Distribution, Biology, Ecology, Behavior, Phase polyphenism	English	Ethiopia, Senegal, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, George Basil Popov, G.B. Popov
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) ad hoc, emergency, other meetings		1971		Management, Survey, Biology, Monitoring, Toxicology, Physiology, Ecology, Forecasting, Locust commission meeting, Collection	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) committee meetings		1971		Management, Survey, Biology, Monitoring, Toxicology, Physiology, Ecology, Forecasting, Locust commission meeting, Bundle	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) survey reports		1971		Management, Survey, Biology, Monitoring, Toxicology, Physiology, Ecology, Forecasting, Locust commission meeting, Bundle	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) training and workshops		1971		Management, Survey, Biology, Monitoring, Toxicology, Physiology, Ecology, Forecasting, Locust commission meeting, Collection	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Desert locust field handbook		2020	View	Species identification, Management	English	Israel, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Lebanon, Sudan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Somalia, South Sudan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Libya, Kenya, India, Oman, Bahrain, Djibouti, Yemen, Uganda, Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, Tanzania, Syria, Iran, Turkey	Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International
Desert locust master training manual		2003	View	Management, Training manual	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Desert locust technical series				History, Management, Set	English, French, Arabic	Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, Madagascar, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Senegal, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Niger, Mali	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Desert locust upsurge progress report on the response in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen		2020	View	Locust outbreaks, Management, Report, Progress report	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
EMPRES meeting, research, workshop, survey report collection		2002		Aerial control operations, Chemical control, Spraying, Workshop, Pesticides, Survey, Locust commission meeting, Meeting, Collection	English	Egypt	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases
Estimate the potential impact of DL resources control an outbreak campaign excel file worksheets				Chemical control, Report, Excel files, Series	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO commission for controlling the desert locust in the central region fifty years fighting desert locust		2016	View	International development, Community development, Environmental assessment, Decision making	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Field efficacy trials with the entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum (Green Muscle) against the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) and monitoring of it's operational use		2007	View	Advice, Metarhizium acridum	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Guide for identifying desert locust			View	Locusts, Biology, General locust education	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Guidelines for developing research proposals			View	Locusts, Research, Research proposal, Guide	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Locusts have caused problems for quite some time			View	Locusts, Biology, Chemical control, Mechanical control, Spraying, Data analysis	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Metarhizium anisopliae reference list of papers			View	Biological control, Infestations, Information hub	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Operational-scale field trial with Green Muscle		2005	View	Agriculture, Chemical control, Metarhizium acridum, Trial, Biocontrol, Management	English	Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Somalia	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Highlighted media coverage

Name	Author	Language	Species purview	Substance	Resource link	Year published
Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) promotional materials	Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations	English		Promotional material

Projects

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