Socio-economics of desert locust control in Sudan - a micro level case study
Even if the Desert Locust has been the most feared agricultural pest in the northern part of Africa for thousands of years, the threat it posed to the rural food security in marginal subsistence areas and its impacts on the welfare of the farming community were never properly assessed. As a result, the demand for assessing the socio-economic and environmental impact of DL control increased.
This study was proposed to contribute to fill some of the gaps by assessing the perception of the rural community on the importance of the DL threat and the efficiency of conventional control measures on the example of Sudan.
The major objectives of the study were: to assess the perception of the farm community on DL threat and the impact of conventional control tactics, to assess the impact on human health and the environmental costs of locust control, to quantify the total economic losses including externalities and losses caused by the DL at the micro level, and to contribute to the identification of alternative locust control strategies, including self-help and damage compensation schemes.