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Desert locust swarms
The pictures coming in from East Africa are apocalyptic. Billions of locusts hatching out of the wet ground, marching destructively through crops, and launching into flight in search of new terrains. "This is certainly the worst situation we have seen in the last 15 years," FAO locust specialist Keith Cressman tells Discovery. And in East Africa there has been nothing like this for 70 years.
As the region braces itself for another cycle of egg laying and hatching, Roland Pease hears from the scientists using satellite technology, mobile phones and big data to protect the crops just starting to grow.
(Photo: Desert Locust Swarms, Credit: FAO/Sven Torfinn)
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Desert locust swarms
Discovery
A second wave of locusts threatens crops in East Africa. Scientists lead the fightback
The pictures coming in from East Africa are apocalyptic. Billions of locusts hatching out of the wet ground, marching destructively through crops, and launching into flight in search of new terrains. "This is certainly the worst situation we have seen in the last 15 years," FAO locust specialist Keith Cressman tells Discovery. And in East Africa there has been nothing like this for 70 years.
As the region braces itself for another cycle of egg laying and hatching, Roland Pease hears from the scientists using satellite technology, mobile phones and big data to protect the crops just starting to grow.
(Photo: Desert Locust Swarms, Credit: FAO/Sven Torfinn)
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27 minutes
Last on
Tue 28 Apr 2020
15:32GMT
BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
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Tue 28 Apr 2020
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Related Links
FOA: Desert Locust (www.fao.org)
Icipe:50 Years of Malaria mosquito research (www.icipe.org)
Iain Couzin (collectivebehaviour.com)
Plant Village (plantvillage.psu.edu)
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Follow Roland Pease (twitter.com)
Azhar Ehsan (iri.columbia.edu)
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