Ecological and Human Diet Value of Locusts in a Changing World

Since ancient times, locusts have been serious pests wreaking havoc on settled agriculture throughout much of the world. Numerous locust practices developed to control infestations. This has led most commentaries portraying infestations only in a negative light while focusing finding best management for suppressing populations and lessening crop damage caused by swarms. Yet, are also great ecological significance being not an extraordinary natural phenomenon but major components ecosystem nutrient cycling, arising long before agriculture. Furthermore, humans, nutritious food source, historically currently consumed directly. Locust today should more regularly include their harvesting. is now feasible, as environmentally friendly biopesticides can be used replace harmful organic pesticides. We focus here using calculations based 1 km2 area swarming breeding Desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, show that huge biomass individuals contributes greatly processes having potential use human nutrition, especially where there urgent need improved dietary intake nutrition.