The southern region has been being a traditional target for locusts. Their inroads are however generally contained by the National Committee in charge of fighting them. Supervision outposts have been being part of the system for decades.
The authorities regularly fail to listen to this watchdog, as they die in 1998. By that time, the government refrained from providing the needed funds as the alarm was rung, and locusts successfully invaded a large part of the Malagasy territory. Even Antananarivo’s inhabitants were entitled to the very unusual spectacle of locusts swarming and parading on Independence Avenue, in the capital city center