Argentina controls notorious locusts with aerial spraying of insecticide

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

The National Service for Agrifood Health and Quality (Senasa) of Argentina is using teams of aero-applicators to control the desert locusts from Paraguay that have settled in the northeast of the country.

"The locusts settle at night in large quantities, in a small volume of hectares, within a radius of five and 25 hectares," explained the aero-applicator and member of the Argentine Federation of Agro-Air Chambers (Fearca), Guido Kindwerley. The specialist explained that the organization is acting "in coordination with Senasa, who are the ones to do all the monitoring work and detect where the locusts are located."

It is a partnership between the public and private sector since the sanitation engineers locate the cloud of locusts and pass it to the aero-applicator to do the treatment, which is done before the sun rises when the locusts settle. "You have to ensure the treatment is done as early as possible, leave the plane full of fuel at night to take off before dawn, arrive at a time when they have settled because once they move the opportunity is lost," he said.

On the other hand, the aero-applicator assured that the products used to carry out the treatment are authorized and determined by Senasa, in the same way as the quantities of pesticides used.

Fearca was recently present at the virtual meeting of the Mercosur Committee, in which the concern raised by the invasion of locusts in Argentina and the possibility of them entering Brazil and Uruguay were raised. At the meeting, it was agreed they must work together through training for aero-applicators from other countries to combat this pest that can cause so much damage to crops.

Fernando Rati, specialist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) argued that "the best way" to fight these flying insects is with aerial fumigation and live monitoring of their population.

"Concerning this wave of locusts that may arrive in Brazil in the coming days and hours, the most important prevention method at the moment is to monitor with the authorities of Argentina and Uruguay, how the locusts move in real-time," he declared.

FAO considers the desert locust "the world's most destructive migratory pest" that can travel up to 150 kilometers a day. They move throughout the day and settle around the late evening, with poor visibility. A one square kilometer cloud of these insects can consume the same amount of food as 35,000 people.