Pakistan battles locusts, turns them into feed

Farmers struggle as worst locust plague in 25 years wipes out entire harvests

LAHORE: Chickens in Pakistan have been feasting on captured locusts under an initiative to combat swarms of the insects that are threatening food supplies in the impoverished country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has endorsed plans to expand a pilot project in the bread-basket province of Punjab, where villagers earned cash to gather locusts that were then dried out, shredded and added into poultry feed. Farmers are struggling as the worst locust plague in 25 years wipes out entire harvests in the country’s agricultural heartlands, leaving people scrambling for income.

Muhammad Khurshid from Pakistan’s food ministry and biotechnologist Johar Ali set up the programme, drawing on efforts in war-ravaged Yemen, where authorities have encouraged people to eat the protein-rich locusts amid famine. The pair chose Okara district, where farmers had not used any pesticides that would make locusts unsuitable for consumption.

“We first had to learn, and then teach the locals how to catch the locusts. Nets are useless against them,” Khurshid told AFP.

At night the creatures cluster on trees and plants, making them easy to scoop up as they lie motionless in the cooler temperatures until the sun begins to rise. For a reward of Rs20 per kilogram of locusts, locals worked all night to collect them.

One farmer who lost all her crops to the insects said she and her son earned Rs1,600 during a single locust-gathering outing, helping to offset the financial damage.

Organisers struggled at first to convince farmers to join the hunt, but by the third night word had spread and hundreds joined in -- turning up with their own bags to stuff full. With 20 tonnes of captured locusts, authorities ran out of money to pay the collectors and the programme was paused.

The ministry, which recently announced the results of February’s pilot, is now preparing to expand the project to other locations.

The harvested locusts went to Hi-Tech Feeds -- Pakistan’s largest animal-feed producer -- which substituted 10% of the soybean in its chicken food with the insects.

“There was no issue with the feed, the locusts have a good potential for use in poultry feed,” general manager Muhammad Athar said, after trying the modified product on 500 broiler hens.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2020.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.