A project to bring the full power of satellite technology to bear in the battle to contain the locust in Africa and protect crops is being planned by the European Space Agency and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. The two agencies will begin testing the system in the next few weeks. The technology will enable the FAO to tackle the insects before they swarm.
In small numbers the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is no problem, although this relatively harmless grasshopper still eats between 30 and 70 per cent of its body weight every day.
But in warm and wet weather the locusts breed very quickly, become gregarious and migrate. These conditions occur every 10 to 15 years. The voracious insects in these swarms consume their own body weight every day. Once the locusts are flying they are difficult to control. A swarm of locusts covering 1000 square kilometres consumes ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.