DISASTERS - LOCUST Part A

THE WORLD

DISASTERS

Disasters Halfway around the world
                        In 1988, North Africa enjoyed exceptionally good crops of vital cereals such as maize. But the wet weather was also ideal for locusts. Swarms were blown by prevailing winds right across the continent. some even spread across the Atlantic and to India.

Alone in the desert
       In the dry conditions usual in Africa, locusts are solitary creatures. They live like ordinary grasshoppers and are a dull, sandy clolour, which camouflages them from predators in the desert.

On the March
       If rain comes, locusts feast on the fresh greenery and breed rapidly. The young become brightly coloured to identify each other as they crowd together, hopping many kilometres to feed.

Ready for take-ff
     If the weather stays wet and food remains plenfiful, the hoppers mature into their adult, winged form. They continue breeding, and soon the first large swarms fly off to hunt for food.

Biting back
       for thousands of years, locusts have provided a plentiful source of food for birds, animals - and humans. These people in Morocco have collected a large harvest, ready to be fried and eaten like prawns. Delicious!


A perpetual menace
        Modern pesticides have done little to reduce the locust threat. The 1988 swarms, the most devastating for 30 years, spread across half of Africa, even though the United Nations spent $240 million of spraying. The best control method is to treat locusts while they are immature 'hoppers' foraging in great numbers on the ground. On the wing, swarms can be attacked only from aircraft, which spray the insects from above.