Ethiopia
| Ethiopia | |
|---|---|
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| Ethiopia is within: | |
| Region: | Africa |
| Subregion: | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Intermediate region: | Eastern Africa |
Ethiopia, located in the northeastern part of the Horn of Africa, is a landlocked country with a diverse landscape that includes the Ethiopian Highlands and the Great Rift Valley. The country shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and Sudan and South Sudan to the west. In 2016, it was estimated that 16 million ha is cultivated and 20 million ha are permanent pastures.[1] The Ethiopian economy is heavily dependent on smallholder rain-fed agriculture which is vulnerable to locust outbreaks. [2]
Ecology
Ethiopia is home to a diverse ecological landscape supporting various plant and animal species, including many grasshoppers. There are mountainous regions, flat-topped plateaus, and expansive lowlands. The terrain is marked by deep gorges with rivers and rolling plains, with altitudes ranging from 110 meters below sea level in the Denakil Depression in the northeast to over 4,600 meters above sea level in the Simien Mountains in the north. The Great East African Rift Valley cuts through the country. [1]
Ethiopia has faced significant challenges from locust swarms, particularly the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), which can devastate crops and pasture lands. The Sahelian tree locust (Anacridium melanorhodon) is also native and widely distributed in Ethiopia. [3] The very eastern edge of Ethiopia can also fall into the invasion area of the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata).
Ethiopia contains several secondary locust breeding areas, particularly during the summer, in regions such as Dire Dawa, Somali, Afar, and Tigray, covering approximately 300,000 to 400,000 hectares. Additionally, there are smaller breeding areas during the spring and winter seasons in Somali and Dire Dawa. [4]
Locust breeding is infrequent on the plateau and rare at high altitudes, occurring mainly in lowland areas, particularly along the eastern flank of the Ethiopian plateau and in the Takazze valley. The highest breeding frequency is observed in the Railway Area between Djibouti and Awash, which follows the Ethiopian Rift. Contributing factors include the area's topography, which can channels swarms and enhances rainfall, as well as favorable breeding conditions like sandy soils and good drainage. In contrast, breeding in the Danakil depression is likely underreported due to its remoteness. [5]
Outbreaks
Ethiopia was one of the countries impacted by the 2019-2021 desert locust outbreak. In 2020 it faced the worst outbreak in 25 years, leading to food insecurity. The outbreak began in 2019, driven by unusual climatic conditions that favored locust breeding. The situation escalated in 2020-2021, with heavy rains and cyclones creating ideal conditions for the formation of massive locust swarms. These swarms caused extensive damage to crops and pastures, threatening food security and livelihoods. In response, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, along with regional governments, implemented extensive control measures such as aerial and ground pesticide spraying, monitoring, and early warning systems to combat the infestation and mitigate its impacts. Read more here
In 2019-2020, desert locusts migrated from Yemen into Ethiopia, initially settling in the Afar lowlands. Swarms then moved to the semi-highlands of Amhara regional state, while another group migrated from Somaliland to Dire Dawa city. Although northeastern Ethiopia was the first area impacted, the locust infestation eventually spread to almost all of the country’s regional states, causing varying levels of damage. Tigray, Amhara, Afar, Oromia, Somalia, and SNNP regions were hit particularly hard, with large areas heavily infested, leading to significant losses in food and feed crops.[6]
The desert locust infestation in Ethiopia led to an estimated loss of 356,286 metric tons of cereal, affecting 806,400 farming households. Additionally, 197,163 hectares of cropland and 350,000 hectares of pastureland were impacted by the locusts in March 2020. [7]
The control efforts for the 2019-2021 outbreak in Ethiopia likely led to significant harm to honeybees due to the loss of bee forage and the dangers posed by pesticides. [6] For more on the impact of insecticide use against the desert locust in the Horn of Africa click here.
Management and research
Desert locust management in Ethiopia is decentralized and handled by the Plant Protection Division under the Crop Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Addis Ababa. This division manages all migratory pest issues and operates a locust information office. [4]
Ethiopia is also part of the FAO Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO EA) and the FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC).
Species gallery
- Highlighted species for Ethiopia
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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.
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 invasion responding to a crisis within a crisis | 2020 | View | Presentation, Outbreaks, Emergency response | English | Yemen, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda | ||
| 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 surveillance and control programmatic environmental assessment | 2020 | View | Monitoring, Environmental assessment, Management | English | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia | United States Agency for International Development | |
| 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 | |
| East Africa desert locust crisis fact sheets | 2019, 2020, 2021 | Emergency response, Outbreaks, Series | English | Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo | United States Agency for International Development | ||
| East Africa regional desert locust impact monitoring reports | 2021 | Locust outbreaks, Food security, Report, Set | English | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda | The Food Security and Nutrition Working Group | ||
| 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 | |
| Global response plan January–December 2020 | 2020 | View | Emergency response, Outbreaks, Appeal | English | Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, India, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Uganda | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | |
| Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen Desert locust crisis appeal | 2020 | View | Appeal, Emergency appeal | English | Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Yemen, Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea | 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 | ||
| Impact of desert locust infestation on household livelihoods and food security in Ethiopia | 2020 | View | Report, Outbreaks | English | Ethiopia | ||
| Locust Invasion in Ethiopia | 2021 | View | Survey, Livelihoods, Outbreaks | English | Ethiopia | Sydney Gourlay, John Ilukor | |
| Locust outbreak media coverage in Ethiopia | 2020 | View | Video, Outbreaks, Locust outbreaks, Media article, Food security | English | Ethiopia | France 24 | |
| 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 | |
| Progress report on the response in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen | 2021 | Report, Advisory note, Forecasting, Monitoring, Locust outbreaks, Locusts, Outbreaks, Emergency response, Early warning, Livelihoods, Aerial control operations, Summary, Food security, Chemical control, Biological control, Community development, Collective movement, After action review, Agriculture, Crop health, Economics, Infographic, Advice, Public health, Pesticide management, Progress report, Set | English | Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya | United States Agency for International Development | ||
| World Bank Procurement plan for Ethiopia 2020 2021 | 2012 | View | Management, Report | English | Ethiopia |
Highlighted media coverage
Projects
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2016) Country Profile - Ethiopia. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/d68acad5-9237-4c53-9e98-b2bbc4e4bea9/content
- ↑ Alemu WG, Henebry GM (2017) Land Surface Phenology and Seasonality Using Cool Earthlight in Croplands of Eastern Africa and the Linkages to Crop Production. Remote Sensing 9: 914. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9090914
- ↑ Rahama ORM, Ahmed MOB, Hassan A (2018) Seasonal Occurrence of the Tree Locust Anacridium Melanorhodon Melanorhodonon Acacia Senegal, North Kordofan State, Sudan. 48.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa (n.d.) Ethiopia. Retrieved from https://dlco-ea.org/ethiopia/
- ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Popoc GB (1997) Desert locust atlas. Rome. https://hopperwiki.org/images/e/ec/Atlas_of_desert_locust_breeding_habitats.pdf
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Worku Z, Bihonegn A, Begna D, Ababor S, Gebeyehu A (2022) The Indirect Threats of Desert Locust Infestation on Honeybees in Ethiopia. Advances in Agriculture 2022: 4269565. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4269565
- ↑ ReliefWeb (2020) Impact of Desert Locust Infestation on Household Livelihoods and Food Security in Ethiopia. ReliefWeb.com. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024. https://hopperwiki.org/images/c/c3/Impact_of_desert_locust_infestation_on_household_livelihoods_and_food_security_in_Ethiopia.pdf