NEWS: Kenya races to escape new plagues of locusts

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 08:38 am

Kenya is in a race to track locusts to stop a new plague from forming in East Africa and ingesting all the greenery they find in their wake.

Hundreds of billions of locusts swarmed parts of East Africa and Asia in February, wreaking havoc for livestock farmers. It is feared the tiny invaders ought to return in the direction of the end of the year.

A helicopter team, backed by way of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, searches for barren region locusts in rural areas.

Desert locusts have a number of bad results and can be completely damaging in the rural communities. They compete for the equal grazing as locals’ cattle and can absolutely smash vegetation if they pass into that area,” said Wes Renken, helicopter pilot with BAC

Helicopters on contract for the UN group. Young hopper locusts can be viewed on the tops of bushes and plants, they resemble a crimson frost.

If left to feed and grow, they will fly, swarm and in the end travel distances of 200 kilometres (124 miles) a day, ravaging everything green that they encounter along their way, devestating farmers.

“There had been a lot of locusts that had been ingesting all the vegetation of the livestock, and a lot of goats died. But in view that the mission commenced there are no extra locusts and it is helped a lot,” said Etapar Lezian, a farmer.

Once locusts are identified, people on the ground take a GPS region and then talk that with the helicopter pilot who does a ground verification of the locusts and their stage of development.

Locusts typically do not kill plants, so the land can rejuvenate. The insects’ faeces is also a wealthy fertiliser.

But animals are in competition with the locusts for inexperienced plants.

(AFP)