A man is chasing away a swarm of desert locusts early in the morning, on May 21, 2020 in Samburu County, Kenya.
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The best option to manage desert locusts is to manage them at their breeding sites with sustainable options, such as biopesticides.
The most effective means of controlling locusts is to prevent the swarms from forming.
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Locust outbreaks are driven by unusual climatic conditions.
Fried locusts.
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Eating locusts is an old strategy used to get food after locusts devastated crops, but things have changed.
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The pandemic has exposed how vulnerable we are to unexpected climate shocks.
A community volunteer uses a motorised spray to apply pesticide on February 25, 2020 at a locust hatch site in eastern Kenya.
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Currently, outbreaks are managed using chemical pesticides or an insect fungus. Neither is a good option.
A man runs through a desert locust swarm in Kitui County, Kenya.
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Changing weather modifies insect traits and can have an impact on their food, natural enemies and predators.
A man chases away a swarm of desert locusts in the bush near Enziu, Kitui County, some 200km east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya.
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The best way of dealing with desert locust, as other locust species, is to adopt a preventive management strategy.