Kebabs or cannibalism: novel ways to stop the East African locust swarm

Lochom Ekiru, a 65-year-old farmer from Turkana, assesses the severe damage of his maize crops after locusts ravaged them in Kalemngorok, Turkana County, Kenya. All Photos by AFP

A Turkana farmer try to shoo away locust damaging her maize crops in Kalemngorok, Turkana County, Kenya. An increasing number of second-generation immature swarms of desert locust continue to form in northwest Kenya.

Turkana farmer Joseph Tirkwel asses the damage to his crops

A farmer points at a cluster of locusts.

A farmer holds up a crop with locust devouring maize.

Members of Kenya's NYS -National Youth Service prepare tp spray pesticides to kill the swarms of locusts.

Members of Kenya's NYS -National Youth Service prepare tp spray pesticides to kill the swarms of locusts.

A man sprays around a wooded area.

A man pesticides in a farm in Nakukulas, Turkana County, Kenya.

Spurred by favourable weather conditions, the migratory pests have descended on East Africa in record numbers since late 2019.

Another wave is about to take to the skies despite the concerted use of pesticides.

The World Bank in May approved a $500 million (Dh 1.8 billion) programme to help countries vulnerable to hunger in East Africa fight the pests eating their way across the region.

In Kenya, where swarms blotted out the sky for miles in recent months, locusts have retreated to just three semi-arid counties in the country's far north.

Eat them, poison them and use scent to drive them to cannibalism – as a second wave of locusts threatens to devour East Africa's crops, scientists in a Nairobi lab are experimenting with novel ways to kill them.

Swarms are the worst for three generations, encouraged by unseasonably wet weather and dispersed by a record number of cyclones. The destructive pests could cost East Africa and Yemen $8.5 billion (Dh 31.2) this year, the World Bank has said.

Locusts are usually controlled by spraying them with pesticides before they can fly, but the chemicals can damage other insects and the environment.

So, scientists at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) are experimenting with biopesticides and the use of locusts as human and animal food as they look for environmentally-friendly extermination methods.

ICIPE researchers were a part of a group that discovered an isolate from a fungus, Metharizium Acridum, could kill locusts without harming other creatures. The isolate is now being used across East Africa.

Now researchers are pouring through 500 other fungi and microbes in their bio bank in the hope of discovering another locust poison.

ICIPE scientist Baldwyn Torto's research has mostly focused on locust smells and pheromones.

Before locusts can fly, they have a certain chemistry and therefore a unique smell that allows them to remain in a group, he said. That smell changes as locusts mature.

Disseminating the scent of an adult among the young can help destroy swarms.

"They get disoriented, the group breaks into pieces, they cannibalize each other and they become even more susceptible to biopesticides," he said.

A lower-tech, but still environmentally-friendly way of combating locusts is eating them.

ICIPE is developing nets and backpack-vacuums to capture large numbers of locusts. The protein-rich insects can then be cooked or crushed into meal or oil suitable for animal feed or human consumption. ICIPE organizes regular events to normalise the consumption of insects.

Researcher Chrysantus Tanga eats the insects himself. In the ICIPE cafe, the heads, legs and wings have been removed.

"They have to make it presentable for a first-timer," Mr Tanga said motioning towards colourful plates of locust-based meals prepared by ICIPE chefs, ranging from deep-fried with tartar sauce, to skewered among vegetables in a kebab.

"For me, I'll eat 100 per cent of it... whatever is crunchy."