Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Worse - Locusts Heading For Darfur

[hatrack]

ROME - "Millions of locusts may be heading for Sudan's Darfur region, pest control experts said yesterday, where violence has already created a humanitarian disaster and two million people are short of food and medicine.

If locust swarms do hit, insecurity in the remote western region would prevent an effective control operation, they said. "Swarms could get into Sudan any day, but we of course don't know when," said Clive Elliott, senior officer in charge of the locust group at the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"The FAO is in contact with the authorities in Sudan and our coordinators in Cairo are working with the countries around the Red Sea to get as prepared as possible for an invasion from the west," he said. Elliott said he had no information to suggest locusts had already swept into Sudan, but a pest control expert in the region said they may have already hit.

"We have indications that swarms of locust devastating neighboring Chad may have also affected Sudan's western region of Darfur," Peter Odiyo, Director of the Addis Ababa-based Desert Locust Control Organization for East Africa (DLCO-EA) told Reuters."

EDIT

[kestrel91316]

1. This actually could be a GOOD thing..........................

since locusts make mighty good eating, especially if you are STARVING.
Just roast them and, voila! Dinner!

[hatrack]

2. My sister-in-law had roasted grasshoppers on a trip to Africa

She said they were pretty good, kind of like slightly spiny popcorn.