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Raining Locusts

You wouldn?t expect a bunch of small green grasshoppers do a lot of damage right? Well, guess again. West Africa has been inflicted with these green grasshoppers during winters. When it rains in West Africa, hundreds of thousands of these locusts form these gigantic swarms and just devour everything that comes in their way.

Last year marked the worst case of locusts in the region since the 80s. Africa, generally a country that welcomes rain in open arms has been dreading winter times because of these pesky insects. Just so you get a proper prospective, one swarm reaches more than 40 miles long. They eat their weight in food every day - and are stripping what was supposed to be a bumper crop.

Recently, it was reported that they`re moving north. Some have been spotted in Italy. According to a UN official, the plague may last several years and could lead to more damage than any current African conflict, including Sudan`s humanitarian tragedy .But there is hope of ending it. Pest-control efforts include locals burying flightless locusts in trenches and scouts with global positioning devices calling in cropdusters, including six from the US that arrived this week. Some $200 million has been spent so far, but experts say more is needed.