In a bid to equip The Gambia with a comprehensive Desert Locust Control System (DLCS), the Africa Emergency Locust Project (AELP) recently commissioned a national taskforce for the mapping of pesticide sensitive zones in the Gambia, intended for use during aerial spraying and also by ground teams.

It was against this background that the Africa Emergency Locust Project, after the successful completion of the exercise, held a one-day validation workshop at the Model Horticultural Training Centre in Wellingara. This study intends to identify the pesticide sensitive areas so as to avoid the spraying of non-target areas with pesticides during locust control campaigns in order to reduce risks associated with pesticide use, identify areas suitable for bio-pesticide and to comply with the safeguard policies of the World Bank, EMP, EA and the PMP.

AELP is a sub-regional project launched with the aim of ensuring a rapid desert locust control and also to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the 2004/05 locust invasion in the Sahel, with its objective to strengthen the capacity of The Gambia to prepare and implement programs and actions designed to prevent, control and manage desert locust infestation within its territory and in the region, and to mitigate its economic environmental and socio-economic impact, including impact on agricultural production, livestock and food supply.