§ 17. Dr. David Kerrasked the Minister of Overseas Development what assistance he is giving to avert the threat of a new plague of desert locusts.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe Anti-Locust Research Centre, which is part of my Department, is continuously engaged in the fight against locusts. In addition to research, it operates the Desert Locust Information Service, through which four months' warning was given of the 1968 upsurge, enabling effective control measures to be taken. In 1968 we also provided specialists and equipment to a value of £175,000 to the Desert Locust Control Organisation of Eastern Africa, whose work in Ethiopia was crucial in checking the outbreak.