Locust swarms arrive in South Sudan, threatening more misery:
Swarms of locusts which are wreaking havoc across East Africa have now arrived in South Sudan, the government said Tuesday, threatening more misery in one of the world's most vulnerable nations.
Billions of desert locusts, some in swarms the size of Moscow, have already chomped their way through Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan and Uganda.
Their breeding has been spurred by one of the wettest rainy seasons in the region in four decades.
Experts have warned the main March-to-May cropping season is at risk. Eggs laid along the locusts' path are due to hatch and create a second wave of the insects in key agricultural areas.
The arrival of the locusts could be catastrophic in South Sudan, where war followed by drought and floods has already left six million people—60 percent of the population—facing severe hunger.
Agriculture Minister Onyoti Adigo Nyikiwec said the locusts had crossed the eastern border with Uganda on Monday.
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Crunch, crunch: Africa's locust outbreak is far from over:
The crunch of young locusts comes with nearly every step. The worst outbreak of the voracious insects in Kenya in 70 years is far from over, and their newest generation is now finding its wings for proper flight.
The livelihoods of millions of already vulnerable people in East Africa are at stake, and people like Boris Polo are working to limit the damage. The logistician with a helicopter firm is on contract with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, helping to find and mark locust swarms for the targeted pesticide spraying that has been called the only effective control.
"It sounds grim because there's no way you're gonna kill all of them because the areas are so vast," he told The Associated Press from the field in northwestern Kenya on Thursday. "But the key of the project is to minimize" the damage, and the work is definitely having an effect, he said.
[...] In the past week and a half, Polo said, the locusts have transformed from hoppers to more mature flying swarms that in the next couple of weeks will take to long-distance flight, creating the vast swarms that can largely blot out the horizon. A single swarm can be the size of a large city.
Once airborne, the locusts will be harder to contain, flying up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) a day.
"They follow prevailing winds," Polo said. "So they'll start entering Sudan, Ethiopia and eventually come around toward Somalia." By then, the winds will have shifted and whatever swarms are left will come back into Kenya.
An irresistible scent makes locusts swarm, study finds:
On its own, a locust is fairly harmless. But so-called solitary locusts can undergo a metamorphosis, changing colour and joining together with millions of others in catastrophic clouds that strip fields.
So what prompts locusts to transform from solitary to "gregarious"?
A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature reveals the secret lies in a pheromone.
Almost like an irresistible perfume, the chemical compound is emitted by locusts when they find themselves in proximity to just a few others of their kind.
The chemical attracts other locusts, who join the group and also begin emitting the scent, creating a feedback loop that results in enormous swarms.
The discovery offers several tantalizing possibilities, including genetically engineering locusts without the receptors that detect the swarming pheromone, or weaponising the pheromone to attract and trap the insects.
[...] It focused on the migratory locust, the most widely distributed species of the insect, and examined several compounds produced by the bug.
It found that one in particular—4-vinylanisole, or 4VA—appeared to attract locusts when emitted, and that the more locusts flocked together, the more 4VA they emitted.
Journal Reference:
Xiaojiao Guo, Qiaoqiao Yu, Dafeng Chen, et al. 4-Vinylanisole is an aggregation pheromone in locusts [$], Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2610-4)
Recently:
(2020-07-06) Crunch, Crunch: Africa's Locust Outbreak is Far from Over
(2020-04-19) Africa's Huge Locust Swarms are Growing at the Worst Time
(2020-02-24) Locust Swarms Arrive in South Sudan, Threatening More Misery
(2020-01-30) Climate Change Behind Africa's Worst Locust Invasion in Decades
(Score: 2, Funny) by driverless on Monday February 24 2020, @09:42AM (2 children)
We need to build a WALL! And Uganda will pay for it.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DannyB on Monday February 24 2020, @02:32PM (1 child)
We need to build a WALL-E that compacts, cubes and stacks the locusts neatly.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @03:02PM
And a train spanning the globe.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @10:00AM (7 children)
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/how-yemen-s-civil-war-played-a-role-in-africa-s-great-locust-swarm-1.975183 [thenational.ae]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday February 24 2020, @11:06AM (6 children)
It's the usual situation: One has a lot of sympathy for the individual people affected by this. However, the disaster itself was invited in and offered a seat by the governments. Maybe Yemen, but certainly the African governments. Corruption and warfare have prepared the ground for the suffering of the populace. Western governments are hardly innocent: nearly all aid programs are actually counterproductive, because they fail to take the long-term perspective. Provide free food: put local farmers out of business. Reduce child mortality: cause a population explosion and worse problems for the next generation. Etc, etc.
The shame is that the people suffering are not the people who caused the problems.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Freeman on Monday February 24 2020, @05:16PM (2 children)
So, the problem isn't the greedy, controlling, abusive, murderous, people in power or vying for power? It's the evil western humanitarian aid that's the problem? What's next, the soup kitchens are the reason why the cities have homeless people? Better to line them all up and shoot them or just let them starve?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday February 24 2020, @05:49PM (1 child)
Um...I do think I listed the African governments as the first and foremost problem.
However, Western aid has done a lot of long-term harm. Humanitarian aid can be - and often is - a short-term patch that causes long-term problems. Good intentions count for nothing, if you don't consider the actual consequences of your intervention.
To repeat the example I already mentioned: An African farmer can't compete with free. Dump shiploads of free or cheap food on a country, and you may feed the hungry for a while, but the farmers go out of business. That is a genuine and serious problem - even assuming that the aid doesn't get confiscated by the local strongman and re-sold elsewhere. Here is just one article discussing this issue. [mg.co.za]
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @09:10PM
Not sure who is modding you down, but when I spent some time abroad helping the locals build water pumping and distribution systems I saw this first hand.
The free hand outs don't replace the farmers, but it definitely affects their bottom line which means they don't have sufficient margin to invest in their own infrastructure.
The programs that seemed to be the most beneficial long term were efforts involving education (ie. schooling, sex education, infrastructure engineering/labour, health). The other thing that seemed to be helping to some degree in addition to the sex education was the availability of contraception, especially condoms that also protect against STI/STDs which are rampant in that part of the world.
It always comes down to the old adage: give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for the rest of his life.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Monday February 24 2020, @11:44PM
"Provide free food: put local farmers out of business."
Perhaps provide the local farmers with replacement produce from nations with agricultural surplus, which they can then market as they would have their own crops. This might at least allow them to bridge one bad season without destroying the economic institutions of local farms and businesses. Locusts, hopefully, will not become an annual problem.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:38AM (1 child)
This is a failure of individuals, not a failure of charity. If you already have 2 children, keep it in your pants.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday February 25 2020, @04:13AM
White families should have a minimum of 2 children. White families who can afford it should have as many as they can afford to send to college. Other families should have as low as zero if they cannot raise any kids without government assistance.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @10:51AM (6 children)
Round'em all up and fry'em.
If you can't beat it, eat it.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:04PM (1 child)
Locusts or Somalis?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 24 2020, @02:34PM
Would killer robots need to have a preference one way or the other?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @03:39PM (3 children)
How good a food source are the locusts if you catch them? You lose some of the nutritive value of the grain, but you get animal protein, and the inefficiencies are not as bad as with the large farm animals that are usually eaten.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:46AM
A brief internet search reveals that locusts are a good food source. In some regions they are a prized delicacy. I suppose the main problem is that the regions in question aren't prepared to massively harvest locusts.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Tuesday February 25 2020, @02:23AM
The inefficiencies are actually *incredibly* low - as I recall you typically get something like 9 pounds of animal protein for every 10 pounds of plant matter. Even better, locusts eat the leaves, stems, etc. which people can't digest effectively if they even bother to harvest, so you actually get a lot more and better food than you would have harvesting the crop.
I seem to remember hearing that "manna from heaven" may have actually originally referred to locusts - an incredible food source that would periodically sweep across drought-ravaged areas where people might otherwise starve.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25 2020, @07:58PM
Very good protein and are already used in many places of the world as a protein source.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @11:10AM
https://www.thedailybeast.com/after-coronavirus-locusts-could-be-the-next-plague-that-hits-china?ref=home [thedailybeast.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:08PM (2 children)
Sounds like a low-budget Japanese horror movie... but that's what happens when you pray to a false idol.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @01:03PM (1 child)
https://www.dailysabah.com/asia/2019/12/25/china-to-rewrite-quran-bible-to-fit-socialist-values [dailysabah.com]
China tried to rewrite the Bible and Quran, so God and Allah sent coronavirus and locusts, respectively.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Tuesday February 25 2020, @12:55AM
Not much rewriting needed. Both Koran and Bible state that God owns you. Once you surrender the principle of self-ownership, all that's left is squabbling over the spoils.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:48PM (1 child)
Usually the press would be all over this but is transfixed on the Coronavirus
Usually the US would send an emergency aid package but Trump is in office
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:59PM
You'll be transfixed too, coofer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Acabatag on Monday February 24 2020, @03:58PM (1 child)
Time for a feast.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Monday February 24 2020, @08:09PM
As I was about to reply to the above AC posts, I've eaten grass hoppers (locusts) in Mexico and in South Asia (Thailand and Malaysia) and they were very tasty. Of course if you spice up anything with cumin and/or curry, chili pepper, and lime juice it will taste good.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday February 24 2020, @04:23PM (2 children)
Their water hasn't turned to blood, they aren't all infected with boils, and their first-born sons are still alive.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday February 24 2020, @07:58PM (1 child)
So far....
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @08:53PM
Wait, captain normal believes in God Sent Plagues?
I politely request a new timeline, gotta rebase the normal branch with reality.