Major struggles refer to the surveillance, prospecting and control operations carried out by the plant protection services against pests of a calamitous nature for the plant and forest heritage. The main pests targeted are sparrows, rodents harmful to agriculture, crickets, forest insect pests….
The actions related to the activities of the great struggles are characterized by large-scale operations involving the mobilization of important means for the surveillance and the fight against the plagues of agriculture and forest (human resources, vehicles, plant protection products, processing equipment, aircraft, helicopters, etc.). These actions are carried out throughout the territory as the pests targeted by the control campaigns are plagues characterized by the magnitude and speed of the damage they cause as well as their great capacity for movement and migration. In addition, the places of concentration are not always the places of attacks and the periods and places of pullulations are difficult to predict.
The operations of the great struggles are carried out with great vigilance and a regular presence on the ground, a speed of intervention, a flexibility for the mobilization and the mobility in time of the means. The execution of large-scale tasks often involves the support of other departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Maritime Fisheries and other ministerial departments including the High Commission of Water and Forests and the Royal Gendarmerie.