It takes specific circumstances to produce a locust swarm. That is why they erupt and then do not happen again for decades. Right now we need to let it largely run its course. The focus needs to be on emergency supplies for the people and also the animals as much as possible.
Better yet, in the future, the military needs to be tacked with this. Actually stopping a swarm will always be too little too late.
I do think that garden operators who typically manage an acre in an intensive manner, should think in terms of setting up suspended netting systems able to block something like this. This can be done cheaply for small areas and stored against use. Posts and lines also integrate well in such a system.
Something like this may well be practical for larger fields as well where the netting can lay directly on the crop. It may well serve to set the swarm on top of a field to be sprayed.
A system like this can be used to block other infestations as well and may be helpful. It is certainly useful to keep birds away from a fruit crop while it is ripening. This can get out of hand at times. Sunflowers in particular need this..
‘This is huge’: Locust swarms in Africa are worst in decades
https://apnews.com/3a94858d9ba8c642e80fa3c141c9a8f8
KATITIKA,
Kenya (AP) — The hum of millions of locusts on the move is broken by
the screams of farmers and the clanging of pots and pans. But their
noise-making does little to stop the voracious insects from feasting on
their crops in this rural community.
The
worst outbreak of desert locusts in Kenya in 70 years has seen hundreds
of millions of the bugs swarm into the East African nation from Somalia
and Ethiopia. Those two countries have not had an infestation like this
in a quarter-century, destroying farmland and threatening an already
vulnerable region with devastating hunger.
“Even
cows are wondering what is happening,” said Ndunda Makanga, who spent
hours Friday trying to chase the locusts from his farm. “Corn, sorghum,
cowpeas, they have eaten everything.”
When
rains arrive in March and bring new vegetation across much of the
region, the numbers of the fast-breeding locusts could grow 500 times
before drier weather in June curbs their spread, the United Nations
says.
“We must
act immediately,” said David Phiri of the U.N. Food and Agricultural
Organization, as donors huddled in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, a
three-hour drive away.
About
$70 million is needed to step up aerial pesticide spraying, the only
effective way to combat them, the U.N. says. That won’t be easy,
especially in Somalia, where parts of the country are in the grip of the
al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group.
The rose-colored locusts turn whole trees pink, clinging to branches like quivering ornaments before taking off in hungry, rustling clouds.
Astonished
by the finger-length insects, children dash here and there, waving
blankets or plucking at branches to shake the locusts free. One woman,
Kanini Ndunda, batted at them with a shovel.
Even
a small swarm of the insects can consume enough food for 35,000 people
in a single day, said Jens Laerke of the U.N. humanitarian office in
Geneva.
Farmers
are afraid to let their cattle out for grazing, and their crops of
millet, sorghum and maize are vulnerable, but there is little they can
do.
About 70,000 hectares (172,973 acres) of land in Kenya are already infested.
“This
one, ai! This is huge,” said Kipkoech Tale, a migratory pest control
specialist with the agriculture ministry. “I’m talking about over 20
swarms that we have sprayed. We still have more. And more are coming.”
A
single swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer
of farmland, an area the size of almost 250 football fields, regional
authorities say.
One
especially large swarm in northeastern Kenya measured 60 kilometers
long by 40 kilometers wide (37 miles long by 25 miles wide).
Kenya needs more spraying equipment to supplement the four planes now flying, Tale said. Ethiopia also has four.
They
also need a steady supply of pesticides, said Francis Kitoo, deputy
director of agriculture in southeastern Kenya’s Kitui county.
“The locals are really scared because they can consume everything,” Kitoo said. “I’ve never seen such a big number.”
The
locusts eat the fodder for animals, a crucial source of livelihood for
families who now worry how they will pay for expenses like school fees,
he said.
His own concern about the locusts?
“They will lay eggs and start another generation,” he said.
A changing climate has contributed to “exceptional” breeding conditions, said Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker.
Migrating
with the wind, the locusts can cover up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) in
a single day. They look like tiny aircraft lazily crisscrossing the
sky.
They are
now heading toward Uganda and fragile South Sudan, where almost half the
country faces hunger as it emerges from civil war. Uganda has not had
such an outbreak since the 1960s and is already on alert.
The
locusts also are moving steadily toward Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, the
breadbasket for Africa’s second-most populous country, the U.N. says.
“The
situation is very bad but farmers are fighting it in the traditional
way,” said Buni Orissa, a resident of Ethiopia’s Sidama region. “The
locusts love cabbage and beans. This may threaten the shaky food
security in the region.”
Even
before this outbreak, nearly 20 million people faced high levels of
food insecurity across the East African region long challenged by
periodic droughts and floods.
As exasperated farmers look for more help in fighting one of history’s most persistent pests, the FAO’s Locust Watch offers little consolation.
“Although
giant nets, flamethrowers, lasers and huge vacuums have been proposed
in the past, these are not in use for locust control,” the U.N. agency
says. “People and birds often eat locusts but usually not enough to
significantly reduce population levels over large areas.”
Still, it offered recipes. One suggested seasoning in Uganda is chopped onion and curry powder. Then fry.
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