Seven alarming facts about desert locusts

But how can an insect no larger than a piece of penne pasta cause such colossal damage? Look no further – we’ve got the lowdown on desert locusts.

The scientific name for a desert locust is ‘schistocerca gregaria’, describing their ability to change from a solitary creature to one with a sociable, “gregarious” nature. This transformation is caused by warm, wet weather, in which desert locusts congregate into massive swarms. They begin to breed rapidly, depositing their eggs in the soil which hatch quickly in these favourable conditions.

Their usual brown colour - which acts as camouflage in the desert - changes to a vibrant yellow and their muscles grow, enabling them to travel long distances and ravage vast acres of land. In swarms, they find safety in numbers and are no longer mindful of the need to hide from predators.

After they’ve formed swarms, desert locusts develop an insatiable appetite. The average mass of a locust is two grams – and they can eat up to that amount in fresh vegetation each day. A swarm covering one square kilometre can eat as much food in a day as 35,000 humans.

Once all the crops in their path have gone, locusts begin to migrate to find more food. Swarms of desert locusts are constantly in motion and can cover huge distances. In 1954, a swarm flew from northwest Africa to Great Britain. In 1988, another made the extensive journey from West Africa to the Caribbean.

Once a swarm lands, locusts will eat crops relentlessly until there’s nothing left. This could have devastating consequences for the millions of people across the affected region who depend on farming to earn a living.

In these sustained weather conditions, new generations of locusts can breed within three months – and each generation brings with it a 20-fold increase of locusts. This could be catastrophic for people and economies across East Africa, causing food supplies to run critically low. Without crops, cows and goats will simply collapse from starvation and waste away. The UN has said that more than 20 million people living in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia could be affected.

In May and October 2018, two devastating cyclones hit East Africa. The heavy rainfall that followed provided the moist conditions desert locusts require to breed. Warmer seas caused by climate change could lead to more cyclones, which in turn could lead to an increase in species of locusts such as this – and an increase in frenzied, cross-continental swarms searching for food. Without interventions, these swarms could last for years until the pests naturally die off.

The potential for destruction from the locust swarms is enormous – endangering people’s lives both now and long into the future. That’s why we’ve launched our East Africa Locust Emergency Appeal, which is supporting affected families with the food, seeds and agricultural tools they need to survive and rebuild their lives.