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According to the information supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, a swarm of red locusts coming from Mozambique flew in across the southern frontier of Malawi in October 1996. During the period from October to November it first flew along the west side of the Shire Valley - a southern part of the East African Rift - towards the north-west. It then turned eastwards and flew along the east side of the edge of the Rift Valley in a south-easterly direction. During this migration eggs were laid. At the beginning of December further swarms originating from Mozambique made their way into the Lake Chilwa region. The swarms reportedly originated from the Buzi-Gorongosa District in Central Mozambique. Swarms apparently also developed in the basins of Lake Chiuta and Lake Chilwa last year.

The results to hand from the prospections carried out (Table 1) are headed by dispersed adult populations and low density populations in December 1996, and as of February larvae populations of low to high density are reported.

According to the information supplied by the local ADD (see Section 9.5 for a list of abbreviations), in January and February an area of 172 ha out of a total infested area of 2777 ha was treated in the region of 51 villages in the Lower Shire Valley (Table 2). By Lake Chilwa about 1000 ha in the vicinity of crops were treated with Sumicidin 20 EC (Table 3). No data on the success of this treatment had been submitted.

In the middle of March the infested areas were prospected with the aid of a helicopter belonging to IRLCO-CSA. The results are not broken down by locality and are reported as follows:

a) Lower Shire Valley:
More than 45 villages are infested to varying extents - light to heavy - by hoppers of the 5th to 6th instar and adults. Crops and grassland are affected. The damage is slight but could become more serious.

b) Chilwa Basin
90,000 ha are more or less infested by hoppers of the 3rd to 5th instar and by adults. The areas are flooded. There are swarms of hoppers and adults in the periphery of the smallholder paddy fields.

c) Chiuta Basin
The basin is heavily flooded and no significant locust populations were found.

d) Salima
In the flood plain of Salima by Lake Malawi hoppers of the 3rd and 5th instar were found.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development therefore considered that the crops in the relevant districts were exposed to the risk of damage by locusts and in view of what appeared to become an emergency situation submitted an application for the emergency aid measure. Application was made for financing of a helicopter assignment (prospection) and a treatment aircraft of IRLCO-CSA Zambia, including insecticides and protective clothing.

Table 1 Prospection Results from December 1996 to March 1997 I = low, m = medium, h = high, L = larval instar

An emergency aid measure was approved by the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation. On April 18, 1997 the plan of financial requirements was prepared and instructions were issued for transfer of the relevant amount to the GTZ Office in Malawi. Up to the time of arrival of the author in Malawi on May 12, 1997, however, the funds had not been used. The purchase of insecticides on place which had originally been planned proved not to be expedient, since the insecticides would first have had to be ordered by the local firm from outside of Africa and would, furthermore, have been much more expensive than if purchased via the GTZ in Eschborn.

The start of the assignment by the IRLCO-CSA Zambia originally planned for the beginning of May had been deferred to May 12due to organisational problems, in particular in connection with procurement of insecticides. Accordingly the assignment of the reporter was also deferred to this date. On arrival of the reporter in Malawi the assignment was deferred once more to May 19.

Table 2 Soil treatment for larvae of the red locust in the Lower Shire Valley in January and February 1997. Villages grouped by Extension Planning Areas (EPA)

Table 3 Ground treatment of larvae of red locust with Sumicidin 20 EC near Lake Chilwa

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