https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51234135

Locusts: UN calls for international help in East Africa

2 hours ago

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/80F5/production/_110631033_059206263.jpg



The UN has called for international help to fight huge swarms of desert locusts sweeping through east Africa.

A spokesman for the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), called for aid to "avert any threats to food security, livelihoods, malnutrition".

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are all struggling with "unprecedented" and "devastating" swarms of the food-devouring insects, the FAO has said.

The agency fears locust numbers could grow 500 times by June.

Ethiopia and Somalia have not faced an infestation on this scale for 25 years, while Kenya has not seen a locust threat this size for 70 years, the FAO said earlier this week. South Sudan and Uganda are also at risk if the swarms continue to grow and spread.

"The speed of the pests' spread and the size of the infestations are so far beyond the norm that they have stretched the capacities of local and national authorities to the limit," the FAO said.

The only option left was "aerial control" - spraying insecticide from aircraft.

Is this a further sign of the End Times?

We had one of those in Perth about 30 years ago.

No big deal.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 24^th, 2020 at 9:42pm:

We had one of those in Perth about 30 years ago. No big deal.

Kenya has not seen a locust threat this size for 70 years,

BRING IN THE EXORCISTS!!!!

Jasin wrote on Jan 24^th, 2020 at 9:46pm:

BRING IN THE EXORCISTS!!!!

This plague is of biblical proportions.


https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/1194D/production/_110631027_059196999.jpg

Climate change, innit...

The Heartless Felon wrote on Jan 25^th, 2020 at 6:21am:

Climate change, innit...

Dunno - who's responsible?

Bobby. wrote on Jan 25^th, 2020 at 7:34am:

The Heartless Felon wrote on Jan 25th, 2020 at 6:21am: Climate change, innit... Dunno - who's responsible?

Scotty from marketing of course...

Why don't they eat them?

Gordon wrote on Jan 25^th, 2020 at 9:02am:

Why don't they eat them?

That's right.
I've passed off Grasshopper and Locust paste as Avocado at many a lunch with friends.

It must be the End Times.
Coronavirus and Locust plagues:


Hundreds of billions of locusts swarm in East Africa


https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-51618188


    10 March 2020

    East Africa locust swarm

Hundreds of billions of locusts are swarming through parts of East Africa and South Asia in the worst infestation for a quarter of a century, threatening crops and livelihoods.



https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/1D10/production/_111104470_c0cd56dc-4d97-4129-a47b-2e6358ee8c56.jpg



https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/5097/production/_111013602_f29e6e9c-7fdc-4236-963d-72dd545901b4.jpg

it happens every 20-30 years or so.n I remember the last one and ppl like bobby saying it was the end times. Heck we have had them in australia.

Spot

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Mar 11^th, 2020 at 5:42am:

it happens every 20-30 years or so.n I remember the last one and ppl like bobby saying it was the end times. Heck we have had them in australia. Spot

I think this is the worst one in 100 years.

"European activists are putting lives at risk in East Africa, turning a plague of insects into a real prospect of widespread famine. The fast-breeding desert locust has invaded Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, creating a state of emergency. The pests recently landed in Djibouti, Eritrea, Oman and Yemen. Swarms have also struck Tanzania and Uganda. They won’t stop on their own. According to the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), “this is the worst situation in 25 years.

These beasts consume every plant in their path, leaving behind devastated croplands and pastures, and can migrate up to 150km in a day. They’ve already covered a million hectares in Kenya, with no signs of slowing down.

The human toll is staggering. Twenty-five million people have been left hungry, by Oxfam’s estimate. Yet, instead of rallying around African nations in this time of great peril, more EU-funded NGOs have descended on the Kenyan parliament to demand that the government disarm itself in the battle against locusts. They want the Kenyan government to outlaw the pesticides used to fight locusts, the only effective tool that can stop these insects, and prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control.

According to experts, a pesticide like fenitrothion will play a key role in eliminating locusts in Kenya and other African countries. Properly applied, it can thwart the desert locust swarms. But Kenya lacks the supplies it desperately needs. “The pesticide fenitrothion is very effective. It kills locusts within forty minutes to six hours of spraying,” says Salad Tutana, the Chair of Northern Kenya Locust Control Coordination team.  Mr. Salad says they are experiencing a shortage of fenitrothion, but that fresh supplies of the pesticide have recently arrived from Japan.

More planes are needed for spraying. Currently, there are only five planes being used to spray the available insecticides."

https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/europes-anti-science-plague-descends-on-africa/

lee wrote on Mar 11^th, 2020 at 11:42am:

"European activists are putting lives at risk in East Africa, turning a plague of insects into a real prospect of widespread famine. The fast-breeding desert locust has invaded Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, creating a state of emergency. The pests recently landed in Djibouti, Eritrea, Oman and Yemen. Swarms have also struck Tanzania and Uganda. They won’t stop on their own. According to the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), “this is the worst situation in 25 years. These beasts consume every plant in their path, leaving behind devastated croplands and pastures, and can migrate up to 150km in a day. They’ve already covered a million hectares in Kenya, with no signs of slowing down. The human toll is staggering. Twenty-five million people have been left hungry, by Oxfam’s estimate. Yet, instead of rallying around African nations in this time of great peril, more EU-funded NGOs have descended on the Kenyan parliament to demand that the government disarm itself in the battle against locusts. They want the Kenyan government to outlaw the pesticides used to fight locusts, the only effective tool that can stop these insects, and prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control. According to experts, a pesticide like fenitrothion will play a key role in eliminating locusts in Kenya and other African countries. Properly applied, it can thwart the desert locust swarms. But Kenya lacks the supplies it desperately needs. “The pesticide fenitrothion is very effective. It kills locusts within forty minutes to six hours of spraying,” says Salad Tutana, the Chair of Northern Kenya Locust Control Coordination team.  Mr. Salad says they are experiencing a shortage of fenitrothion, but that fresh supplies of the pesticide have recently arrived from Japan. More planes are needed for spraying. Currently, there are only five planes being used to spray the available insecticides." https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/europes-anti-science-plague-descends-on-africa/

The pesticide fenitrothion may be bad for birds and other wildlife that eat the dead insects.

https://apvma.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication/15271-fenitrothion-interim-report-env.pdf


However it looks like we use it in Australia to control locusts.

Much better that Africans die of starvation than let birds die. 8-)

lee wrote on Mar 11^th, 2020 at 8:18pm:

Much better that Africans die of starvation than let birds die. 8-)

But it's birds that normally eat insects.
If the birds are killed then more pesticides are needed in the future.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 12^th, 2020 at 6:40am:

But it's birds that normally eat insects.

except when in plague proportions they can't cope. ;)


Bobby. wrote on Mar 12^th, 2020 at 6:40am:

If the birds are killed then more pesticides are needed in the future.

Only of all the birds are killed.

Not all birds are susceptible. From your reference -

"Reports from acute, dietary and reproductive testing in quail and mallards have been submitted, and laboratory and field information for a large number of species has been obtained from the scientific literature. Fenitrothion is slightly to very highly toxic to birds by acute oral and dietary routes. Quail are sensitive and mallards relatively insensitive. Similar trends are apparent in reproductive testing, with the no observed effect concentration with respect to egg production in quail below 35 ppm, but no statistically significant impacts on reproductive parameters in mallards exposed to 107 ppm in feed. In general, it appears that small birds are more sensitive than larger birds to the toxic effects of fenitrothion."

And of course they come with mixing advice etc.

You can see it coming


famine

africa

give money

starving

tearful chubby faced kids ... donate now


bad locusts


Biblical


give

give

give

PZ547 wrote on Mar 12^th, 2020 at 1:54pm:

You can see it coming famine africa give money starving tearful chubby faced kids ... donate now bad locusts Biblical give give give

It was all predicted in the Bible.

Passover: New Wave of Locust ‘Plague’ Hits Africa, This Time it’s 20 Times Bigger

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 12, 2020 , 1:19 pm      

https://mk0breakingisralps2c.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/africalocustsinvasion.png

A plague of locusts that struck Africa hard has returned with a vengeance and like the archetypal plague in Egypt. Billions of young locusts are spreading out from their breeding grounds in Somalia, newly hatched after seasonal rains, eating more than the older insects that passed through already.

A wave of locusts swept through East Africa last year but the current wave is estimated to be 20 times larger and is described as the worst in 70 years. This wave very much resembles the Biblical plague in this respect, coming as part of a wave of catastrophes that left the land of Egypt bereft of any food.


https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/148515/passover-new-wave-of-locust-plague-hits-africa-this-time-its-20-times-bigger/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScOzRSCbkE

CORONAVIRUS

While the world fights the coronavirus, Eastern Africa is simultaneously battling a locust invasion that threatens food security and lives in the region.
—————————
READ MORE: African officials pushed back Thursday against the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if the virus is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk.

"We cannot be neglected in this effort," the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. "The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa."

While Africa's 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that "the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled" as cases, now more than 11,000, quickly rise. 

"The worst is still to come," he said, and pointed to the global Spanish flu pandemic of a century ago when cases came in waves.