[seahorse]

With all the food issues developing into various crisis, I hope this doesn't amount to much, but with all the other food issues happening all at once, it certainly adds to the concern. A locust plague is now hitting Central Asia. Bad timing.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')ENTRAL ASIA
Like a Biblical plague locusts are devastating already parched fields
After a long cold winter and a serious drought locusts have come to Central Asia more numerous than ever. They are wiping out farmland and grassland, pushing herders to the k of survival, forcing many to sell off their livestock at low prices. Next winter the problem of meagre harvests will likely be compounded by meat shortages.


Astana (AsiaNews/Agencies) – From Afghanistan into Kazakhstan swarms of locusts are back in Central Asia, leaving barren fields in their wake. They come each year at the same time around April but this year a shortage of crops caused by the harsh winter forced them farther north and west where they attacked grain and cotton fields, fruit orchards and even grazing land for livestock.

In two months more than 220,000 hectares of farmland in Tajikistan, 200,000 hectares in southern Kazakhstan and 50,000 hectares in Kyrgyzstan have been infested.
Uzbekistan, western Afghanistan's Herat Province and Iran have also been affected.

Moving in swarms of millions, locusts can produce 500 more locusts each; their eggs can stay in the ground for five to ten years waiting for ideal weather conditions to hatch.
In Tajikistan, where more than half the population lives in poverty, food is already a problem. The authorities have had to mobilise the army to help the population but the government has little money for pesticides.

In Kazakhstan the government has banned grain exports to protect local consumers and keep prices in check, but it is still worried that it might not be able to contain the locust invasion.
“The drought has also left no grass for the herds,” said Serik Alzahov, deputy director of the regional Agriculture Department in South Kazakhstan Oblast.

If the insects wipe out the grassland, animals will have to be slaughtered. The alternative would be to move the herds to other areas, hundreds of kilometres away, but that is expensive.
The result is that speculators are already moving in, offering herders to buy up their livestock but at a low price. Many herders are indeed selling off their livestock since they cannot afford transportation for their animals elsewhere.

What is more in many places people have already started worrying about next winter, when the almost certain meagre harvest will be compounded by unavoidable meat shortages.

Central asia tajikistan kazakhstan afghanistan uzbekistan kyrgyzstan locust invasion infestation drought harsh winter harvest livestock farmland grassland grazing land.

[seahorse]

Hmm, edible locust? Raises some interesting questions:

(1) How would they be harvested? If they are killed with pesticides, that rules out eating them.

(2) Maybe we could stomp them to death, but what's the eroi of human calories burned versus the calories gained from the ones you stomp? That is a legitimate survival question, btw, bc I've been on many survival courses and am always taught not to waiste energy chasing and swatting grasshoppers for that very reason.

(3) But, lets assume we stomp them, how many are salvageable to eat?

(4) How are they going to be stored in sufficient quantities over the winter to replace cattle? Cattle of course graze all winter. Locust come and eat themselves to death. So, we have to gather them and store them how? In deep freezes? Where will all the poor in Central Asia store them? What's the shelf life of an unrefrigerated grasshopper?

[Novus]

Watch now as the bible loonies come out of the woodwork on this.

[startswithearthquakes]

indeed, and Nice with wild honey.

Get ready for more plagues and other problems. It has been written, and cant be denied.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse', 'H')mm, edible locust? Raises some interesting questions:

(1) How would they be harvested? If they are killed with pesticides, that rules out eating them.

[Eli]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'W')atch now as the bible loonies come out of the woodwork on this.

[seahorse]

I have a suspicion that after millions of years, if locust were a substitute for cows, man would have been harvesting them long ago.

[yeahbut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse', 'I') have a suspicion that after millions of years, if locust were a substitute for cows, man would have been harvesting them long ago.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yeahbut', 'M')aybe we'll perish surrounded by wasps, ant larvae and crickets

[Kylon]

People keep worrying about food prices...


All we need to do is plant a lot of soybeans in Africa!

They are self-fertilizing, so they wouldn't increase demand for Petrol as much.

A reduction in demand in Africa would occur, and with widespread enough planting, they could export food to other countries, bringing Africans out of poverty, and help stave off famine in the rest of the world.

Everybody wins(except for gas, ammonia, and current grain producers).

[yeahbut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yeahbut', 'M')aybe we'll perish surrounded by wasps, ant larvae and crickets

[joelcolorado]

The only reason there isnt plagues like there used to be in the USA is the States of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, etc. spray all that land where the locust come from.

[BigTex]

I have pruned this thread to remove the off topic and disruptive items.

Can we be a little more civil with one another please?

Thank you.

[Twilight]

Is there ever a good time for a plague of locusts?