Well organized and conducted locust surveys, skilled survey officers and efficient national information networking, that continue to work also during recession periods, are essential prerequisites to increase the likelihood of the early detection of gregarious Desert Locust populations and hence of any successful preventive Desert Locust management strategy.

The basic requirements are:

EMPRES/CR provided various forms of support to improve the survey and early warning capacity of the member countries including the training of plant protection officers, scouts and farmers, and the provision of references, survey and communication material.

As a result of these efforts, most countries are preparing targeted survey plans based on the ecological situation and forecasts. The quality and timeliness of the survey reports has improved steadily over the years and, in terms of quantity, the number of locust reports received from the member countries increased by more than 50 % since 1997. Modern technologies such as remote sensing have been introduced for more precise targeting of potentially important survey areas. Real-time field data transfer technology (eLocust) is in the process of being introduced. The Desert Locust data management system, RAMSES, has been introduced at all national Locust Information Offices and is being used as a standard tool for the analysis of field data.