Farmers fight back against locusts - 15th March 2021

With East Africa battling some of the worst locust plagues in decades, one organisation is helping farmers defend themselves against the pest.

2020 saw billions of insects descend on East African farms, ravaging crops, stripping grazing land bare and jeopardising the livelihoods of millions. With further infestations in 2021 likely to leave serious agricultural damage in their wake, a Kenyan NGO, The Bug Picture, has hatched a plan to turn this plague into profit.

Its sustainable solution to swarms reconceptualises the insects as a seasonal crop, which, like any other crop, can be harvested and sold. The regenerative agriculture company is collaborating with afflicted communities to capture and transform locusts into animal feed and organic fertiliser.

Once the locusts have settled in for the night, insect harvesters comb infested areas by torchlight, plucking the slumbering pests from trees and shrubs. They then take their bounty to be weighed and are immediately remunerated via a mobile platform.

After being pulverised and desiccated, the pests are processed into a protein-rich powder. One of the major challenges facing the animal feed industry in the Horn of Africa is the cost and inconsistent quality of available protein sources, so this alternative, cheap and sustainable source of the macronutrient is more than welcome.

The scheme has so far seen over two tonnes of locusts harvested, but with a total population in the hundreds of billions, that has barely made a dent in the number of insects threatening East Africa.

As locust swarms are exacerbated by climate change, the plagues are predicted to be an ongoing issue for East Africans. The Bug Picture hopes its project can assist farmers in their struggle against the destructive insects.