This has been quite a year. Now Africa is expecting a record wave of locusts:
First came the floods. The waters swamped bean and corn fields and created a breeding ground for a swarm of desert locusts the size of Manhattan that fanned out and destroyed a swath of farmland across eight East African nations as large as Oklahoma earlier this year.
Now their offspring are threatening a historic infestation—a second wave of locusts, 20 times as large as the first, that the U.N. warns could chew their way through 2 million square miles of pastureland, farms and gardens, around half the size of Western Europe.
The swarms, which would be by far the largest on record, are expected to descend as the new coronavirus accelerates across East Africa, raising the prospect of a double-shock to some of the world’s poorest and most heavily-indebted economies.
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Compounding the problem, Gen. Kavuma’s unit also spends much of its time on the lookout for people violating stay-at-home orders as Ugandan authorities attempt to halt the spread of the transmission of the coronavirus. Uganda’s lockdown is one of the world’s strictest. During the previous infestation, farmers banged drums, whistled and threw stones to protect their crops. But in recent days they have been forced to watch in frustration as the insects devoured their farms and gardens, trapped inside by fear of the virus and the security forces enforcing the lockdown.
Farmers are trapped inside?
Probably farmers as in: villagers eking out a living on subsistence farming. I’m willing to bet a Nobel peace prize that available pesticides and food aid are being directed to favored tribes while the army is clamping down on disfavored tribes.
Vast hordes of flying bugs could feature in my worst nightmares, so kudos to East African villagers if they’re willing to confront them by using harsh language and loud noises.
But my chief takeaway from this was just that- one can scare away locust hordes with drums, whistles and thrown stones?
In think those poor creatures need an empowerment consultant to teach them just where the power balance actually resides in that equation. Maybe we can send some of our currently teleworking specialists in community organizing and gender-studies to educate the locusts. I will contribute to the fundraiser if I can get live web video.