Question: What is worse than a large locust swarm plaguing eight African countries as the worst locust outbreak there in 70 years?
Answer: A second swarm larger than the first.1
It was bad enough in February 2020 when eastern Africa was overwhelmed with teeming locust hordes. But now it’s worse—some say 20 times worse!1,2
On May 4, 2020 the UN’s FAO reported that the situation is growing alarmingly worse by the day. Extensive rain fell for two months on east Africa which will lead to another generation of breeding with increased numbers. The locusts are expected to spread to other areas, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and even southwest Asia, particularly during May and June.2
But the swarms could spread farther.
Meanwhile, Uganda is already overrun with the disastrous pests, which ruin food crops and threaten starvation to people—as people are already struggling against the coronavirus. After spring rains fall, prompting vegetation growth, locust armies swarm from the skies, devouring the new crops and other plant-life. A minster at Uganda’s agriculture department said, “This is very active, destructive and we are worried it has come at the time of lockdown. We are a bit overwhelmed.”
Coronavirus lockdowns have slowed the fight against the locusts. Crossing borders is more difficult and deliveries are delayed. “Aerial spraying is the only effective means of controlling locusts, but there have been complaints that the pesticides are affecting livestock.”1
Locusts can travel about 90 miles in a day and devour their own body weight in crops. The chairperson for Uganda’s Kumi district said, “This is seriously going to bring food insecurity…. As we were hopeful of to receive some relief food to support the situation on ground, the locust invaded and COVID-19 lockdown is moving towards devastating the economy.”1
The Bible speaks more about locusts than it does any other insect (or any other invertebrate, for that matter), with one prominent appearance being the eighth plague of Egypt, preceding the Israelites’ exodus under Moses’s leadership.3
Ironically, zoologist George Cansdale notes that locusts are not only voracious consumer of crops and other vegetation, they themselves are edible sources of protein, like crickets and grasshoppers.3
Perhaps it feels weird to talk about the devastating effects of locusts on Africa, and to simultaneously recognize that locusts can be a blessing when eaten as nutritious food for humans. They were eaten by John the Baptist, who was first cousin to the Lord Jesus Christ, humanly speaking. The same insect that can devastate human food sources can, itself, be a food source.
In fact, ICR’s Dr. Brian Thomas explains that locusts are actually an optional phase of grasshopper.
Also, the locust’s physique is well-designed, Dr. Thomas explains, for accomplishing the energetic movements that this jumping insect is famous for.
What an unusual creature the locust is!
The locust is horribly disastrous to lands plagued by its swarming infestations. Its voracious appetite is dangerous, a result of the Fall of mankind. Yet, providentially, it can also be a blessing, a nutritious food for hungry people, as it was for John the Baptist. Let us lift up Africa in prayer during this difficult time, that their loss of food supplies can be reversed quickly.
References
1. Okiror, S. Second wave of locusts in east Africa said to be 20 times worse. The Guardian. Posted on theguardian.com April 13, 2020, accessed May 5, 2020.
2. Staff Writer. 2020. Desert Locust Situation Update. Locust Watch. Posted on fao.org May 4, 2020, accessed May 5, 2020.
3. Cansdale, G. S. 1976. All the Animals of the Bible Lands. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 238-244, with quotation from page 244. Regarding how nutritious food is a providential blessing from God, see Acts 14:17.
4. Thomas, B. The Confusing Origin of Locust Swarms. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org January 8, 2009, accessed May 5, 2020.
5. Thomas, B. 2012. Optimized Engineering in Locust Legs. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org October 3, 2012, accessed May 5, 2020.
*Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Apologetics and Chief Academic Officer at the Institute for Creation Research.