Plagues of Locust have devasted societies since the Pharaohs led ancient Egypt, and they still wreak havoc today. Locust has been despised and revered throughout history. Coming from the family of grasshoppers, these insects’ silhouette enormous swarms spreading across regions, devouring crops and leaving serious agricultural damage in their wake. Locust can be confused with grasshoppers since both of these insects share the same body structure, characteristics, and sometimes the lifestyle too. The behaviour of both these insects is the basis of differentiation. During droughts, solitary locusts are forced to return to the remaining vegetation, and this releases serotonin in their central nervous systems which helps them in becoming more sociable and in rapid movements and appetite. Rain helps locust to shift to the gregarious phase where they give up a solitary lifestyle and adapt the group lifestyle. During this phase, they can even change colour and body shape. Their endurance increases and also their brains get larger. The moistening of the soil and abundance of green plants creates the perfect environmental conditions for them to reproduce.
Swarming
The swarms are enormous masses of tens of billions of flying bugs. Locust swarms can travel up to 81 miles and more each day, with 40 billion to 80 billion locusts packed in half a square mile. A swarm of locust in the year 1988, flew from West Africa to the Caribbean, covering a distance of 3100 miles in just ten days. One of the locust’s species- the desert locust, is found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit an area of about six million square miles or thirty countries. Desert locusts possess a threat to the economic livelihood of a tenth of humans. Locusts are migratory, transboundary pests. They ride the winds, crisscrossing swaths of land until they find something they want to munch on. They especially love cereal grain crops, planted extensively across Africa.
How Do Locusts Affect Food Security?
“The locusts are in your field for a morning, and by midday, there’s hardly anything left in your field, it’s just eaten.” Locusts are voracious eaters. Each locust can eat its own weight in plants, so a locust’s swarm comprising of 40 to 80 million locusts can consume about 423 million pounds of plants every day. The largest locusts outbreak occurred in 2003 and lasted till 2005, and damaged crops worth $2.5 billion. Studies showed that the effect of this outbreak was largely felt by the subsistence farmers. This in return affects the education of the children who grew up in that period since it was difficult to go to schools, and girls were disproportionately affected. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), locust invasion is an unusual threat to food security and livelihood in parts of East and West Africa, South West Asia, and India. Africa is very vulnerable since they had consecutive years of droughts, heavy rains, and floods. The potential hunger threat to Africa is tremendous since it is a region where 42 million were already slated to face acute food insecurity.
The map points towards the Global Forecast for desert locust (May- July). The map shows the threat to agricultural production in East Africa, the Indo-Pak border, Sudan, and the Sahel in West Africa. The danger is likely to increase due to rainfall and spring in East Africa. The swarms have begun migrating from Baluchistan and can be seen in Rajasthan, India. The locust attack can be termed as a “two-front war” since it is a challenge for India and the African continent to ensure food security as well as fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Food security in the Afro- Asian region is at risk since the locust is breeding in East Africa, Yemen, and Southern Iran.
According to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crisis, there are 135 million severely food insecure people spread across fifty-five countries and territories. Most of these people are in the Middle East and Asia, Lake Chad Basin, Central Sahel, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, and Central America. A study by the World Food Programme shows that 130 million more are thrust towards hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This gives a total of 265 million food-insecure people who would need food and nutrition as they lack any means to survive the health and economic consequences of the crisis. The monsoon season in East Africa and India would create a perfect environment for locusts to breed. Food shortage already prevailing in these regions, further these locusts attack would lead to increased food security.
In India already 1.7 hectares of agricultural land in Rajasthan and Gujrat has been destroyed by locust attack. The presence of locusts is also detected in Punjab and Haryana. Experts suggest that locust mainly breeds in rainwater and areas affected by the cyclone. The rising temperature and changes in the climate would worsen the situation in the upcoming month. The Agricultural Ministry is investing in spraying equipment and drones to prevent the attacks. Since they can have catastrophic on Rabi crops in Rajasthan and Gujrat. Scientists warn that the locusts could push agrarian parts of India to the brink of disaster, severely disrupting food supplies and slashing earnings for millions of struggling farmers.
How is the World Fighting Locust Attack?
Countries are taking various steps to the invasion under control, but with the outbreak of the coronavirus, it has become more difficult to fight the locust attack. In this difficult time, it is important to adapt to integrated environmentally safer measures. These may include:
- Preventive Measures: Early detection infrastructure can be used for tracking, thus helping in keeping an eye on the spread of locusts.
- Post-outbreak Control Measures: Using environmentally friendly biopesticides, since it will not harm the environment and ecosystem.
- Integrated Approach: Countries shall form effective policies and enhance social security programs, including compensation for farmers, producers, and local community residents.
The primary effect is taken by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, which runs the Desert Locust Watch to track locust migration patterns. A US $ 500 million program approved by the World Bank to support countries like Africa and the Middle East affected by the locust attack. The main aim of the program is to help the affected households, cover up their immediate food needs and protect their physical and human capital assets while building up national surveillance and early warning systems to diminish future outbreaks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has teamed up with the United Nations to remodel technology earlier used for tracking smoke plumes from fires to foresee a locust attack.
Conclusion
The combined crisis of Covid-19 and Locust is a major challenge and may lead to more disasters such as drought, disease, and increased poverty. The loss of agricultural productivity, the discontinuity of supply chains, the lack of labour, and the disruption of wholesale and transport markets due to the lockdown have had a catastrophic effect on the economy. The closing of borders as part of the quarantine measures has imposed restrictions on the movement of probable aid to tackle the locust problem.
This calls for an integrated strategy with increased monitoring, surveillance, and expenditure in a preparedness program to make vulnerable nations more immune to locust attacks. Social security, such as insurance, must be given to farmers and consumers through effective governance.
