Panasonic Toughpad rugged Android power the U.N.’s Locust Watch Project

Panasonic FZ-A1 tablets have been selected by the United Nations as an essential element for the success of the innovative Desert Locust Watch Project.

With locust plagues continuing to cause devastation Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have developed the innovative Locust Watch Project to track plagues and provide early alerts. The United Nations selected Panasonic Toughpad FZ-A1 rugged Android tablets as an essential element for the success of this project.

The Backstory.

For thousands of years, the desert locust has been a genuine threat for hundreds of millions of people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Its destruction of crops causes distress for farmers, inhabitants and ecosystems alike.

During quiet periods, called recessions, desert locusts live a solitary life in the dry and semi-dry areas of these regions. The locusts reproduce in specific weather conditions, creating enormous swarms that can contain millions of insects per square mile. Swarms move extremely fast and can affect an area of around 12.4 million square miles and threaten some 60 countries on 20% of the world’s total land surface and cause considerable damage to crops. A swarm the size of 3.9 square miles can consume the same amount of food as 350,000 people in a single day.

The Project.

To fight and prevent this plague, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) established the Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS) for the daily monitoring of environmental conductions and locust infestations on a global level. DLIS has been providing updated forecasts and alerts to those countries at risk of locust invasion since 1975. In the past few years, the DLIS has taken significant steps forward in the early warning of locust plagues thanks to the satellite mapping of the wide territories affected and to the development of suitable tools to work in extreme environmental conditions.

The Technology.

375 Panasonic FZ-A1 Toughpads at the side of FAO to fight
against locusts.

The United Nations selected Panasonic Toughpad FZ-A1 rugged Android tablets as an essential element for the success of this innovative project.

“The software, which is highly intuitive, is installed on Panasonic Toughpad FZ-A1 tablets, distributed to local field officers in the locust-affected countries,” says Mauro Cofelice, Key Account Manager for Panasonic Toughbook-Toughpad. “Through a satellite network, FZ-A1 tablets are connected to national control centers and DLIS in Rome, which coordinates and sends teams to those areas where there’s a high potential of important locust activity.

Panasonic provided the project with 375 Toughpad FZ-A1 tablets, which have been distributed by FAO to 22 frontline countries.

“Panasonic Toughpads turned out to be amazing products, robust and reliable, able to respond to all our needs and guarantee a better user experience and longer operational life,” said Keith Cressman, Senior Locust Forecasting Officer.

Read the full article from Panasonic for Business.
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