Residents of Tenges ward in Baringo Central chase away a swarm of locusts which had invaded the area, February 23, 2020. But so-called solitary locusts can undergo a metamorphosis, changing colour and joining together with millions of others in catastrophic clouds that strip fields. The study comes as record numbers of locusts devour crops in east Africa and threaten the food supply in Pakistan. The "mutant locusts lost their attraction to 4VA compared with the wild-type locusts", the study said. "Optimisation and adjustment are necessarily required from the experiments to practical application," Kang told AFP.

Source: Standard Digital August 12, 2020 18:06 UTC