Maghreb, Sahel countries to set up anti-locust committee

Delegates from nine western and northwestern African countries held a meeting in Rabat earlier this week to discuss the legal and technical aspects of a draft accord setting up a committee to combat the migratory locust in the Sahel and Maghreb regions.

This regional committee, to gather Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Tunisia will reinforce cooperation between member states in combatting the migratory locust.

The committee members will coordinate surveillance and prevention strategies and will seek more efficient, less costly and more environment friendly struggle means against the insects that devastate harvest and grazing lands.

The idea to set up the committee was put forward during the FAO 30th conference held in November 1999 in Rome.