Locust menace turns into source of livelihood for poor villagers
A picture taken on February 8, 2021, shows a farmer chasing away desert locusts at her maize field in Meru County.
What you need to know:
- Pests have devastated crops and pastures in many parts of the country.
- Firm is buying critters from locals at Sh50 per kilogramme for use in making chicken feeds and fertilisers.
Enormous swarms of desert locusts have caused major devastation to crops and livelihoods in the country — the worst invasion in 70 years.
But scientists have come up with a way to turn these critters into chicken feed. The Bug Picture Organisation hopes to transform the pests into profits and bring hope to hopeless pastoralists whose crops and livelihoods are being destroyed by the insects.
With support from Danida Emergency Funding, The Bug Picture is currently doing community-based harvesting and processing of locusts for use as a protein input in animal feed and bio-fertiliser.
The Bug Picture is working with local communities around Turkana, Isiolo, Samburu and Laikipia to harvest the insects and mill them, turning them into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertiliser for farms.
In an exclusive interview with the Nation, The Bug Picture’s founder Laura Stanford said villagers from areas where the pests have manifested have made cash by gathering the locusts.
Ideal conditions
“Catch many locusts, earn money and save pastures and crops,” Ms Stanford said.
Experts say abnormal weather patterns exacerbated by climate changes have created ideal conditions for surging locust numbers.
Ms Stanford said they identified northern Kenya’s Turkana, Samburu and Isiolo counties as the most suitable to carry out the project due to them being most affected by the swarms.
This picture taken on February 8, 2021, shows desert locusts in a maize field in Meru County, Kenya.
The Bug Picture offered to pay farmers Sh50 for a kilo of the insects. According to Ms Stanford, the project has harvested two tonnes of locusts so far this month and is targeting three tonnes by end month.
Locusts only fly during the day. At night they cluster on trees and on the open ground in sandy areas where they remain almost motionless until dawn, making them easy to scoop up as they lie motionless.
Locust-gathering
For the Sh50 per kilo cash reward, locals are working all night to collect them.
One farmer, Mr Jameson Ekiru, said he and his son earned Sh800 during a single locust-gathering outing.
“It a fair price. Once we collect them, they are weighed and we get paid instantly,” said Mr Ekiru.
Ms Stanford termed the project as a solution since it can provide hard-hit farmers with a fresh revenue stream and relieve the pressure on authorities struggling to distribute and spray pesticides.
Locusts have swarmed their way through crops across Kenya and East Africa, and experts fear their numbers will explode amid the arrival of rains which will provide favourable breeding conditions.
