Locust Control
BELL AIRCRAFT USED TO SAFEGUARD FOOD AND AGRICULTURE AMID HISTORIC LOCUST INFESTATION
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n the last 12 months, food security has been under serious threat from devastating swarms of locusts, destroying crops from East Africa to the Arabian Gulf. With experts warning of a “rolling emergency” that could endanger harvests across the regions for the rest of the year, governments and international organizations face a herculean challenge in controlling the
36 Gulf Agriculture | www.gulfagriculture.com
infestations. Aircrafts from Bell, the U.S.-based helicopter manufacturer, have been playing a key role in the joint efforts to fight this ancient plague. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), desert locusts – whose destructive infestations cause major crop damage – are a species of grasshopper that live largely solitary lives until a
combination of conditions promotes breeding and leads them to form massive swarms. The region’s current crisis began in October 2019 as swarms formed along the Red Sea coastal plains in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Sudan, spreading eastwards across the Arabian peninsula and further south in Africa in the following months. By January, Kenya, one of
November-December 2020
