XAG Suggests Drones Could Be Smarter Than Locust Swarms At Night

The UN warned last week that East Africa remains under threat from desert locust invasions, due to the prevailing favorable breeding conditions that allow new swarms to form and grow. As African countries prepare for the impending locust crisis, smart tech company XAG has proposed that agricultural drones, through more targeted night fumigation applications, can vigorously support current ground and air control measures. . Drones developed specifically by XAG for agriculture can be used to combat voracious pests that have wreaked havoc on food crops and left millions of people starving.

Drones to ease the burden

The unusually rapid spread of locusts in Africa is largely the result of erratic weather associated with climate change. Prolonged rains lead to humid, humid desert lands and flourishing vegetation, creating an environment conducive to locust swarms to breed freely.

According to the FAO Desert Locust situation updated on January 22, the Greater Horn of Africa, which includes Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, is the worst affected region seeing the arrival of more immature swarms. The estimated above-average rainfall brought by Cyclone Gati causes the swarms to complete maturation and lay eggs. This will result in multiple generations being born during February and March, again putting the food security and livelihoods of rural households at risk since the last boom subsided in July 2020.

Finding new versatile and easy-to-use tools to deal with these notorious locusts becomes more urgent as local farmers and response teams have been struggling to contain them. In times of this crisis, drones provide an innovative complementary solution to the more expensive manned aircraft or less effective manual spraying method. They can be used to perform ultra-low volume (ULV) precision spraying of chemical or biological pesticides to kill locusts, especially in impacted areas that would otherwise be inaccessible to land vehicles and aircraft.

When locust swarms fly unscrupulously and are densely packed during the day, it is suggested that drones are unsafe and ineffective in conducting spraying operations. However, XAG agricultural drones with night mode of operation can join the lobster “air force” under certain circumstances. They can target wingless nymphs and jumper bands in the early stage, or launch an attack when flying adults settle after sunset.

The use of unmanned devices is also expected to help reduce pressure on supplies and human resources needed to suppress locust outbreaks in poverty-stricken regions of Africa. Equipped with four rotary atomizers, XAG’s agricultural drones can operate fully autonomously on a predetermined route and deliver uniform sprays three meters above target locust swarms. This means that less sophisticated skills are required of field operators, while reducing the amounts of pesticides used to a minimum. Thus, this unmanned technology shows strengths to combat a locust invasion amid travel restrictions and social distancing imposed due to COVID-19.

The night watch to protect livelihoods

In a recent drone spraying demonstration, Sunagri Investment Zambia Limited, as XAG’s global partner in Africa, has presented the new nightly locust control ideas to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Zambia Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) . You are now on your way to preparing your XAG equipment for a possible locust outbreak during the upcoming dry season. Sunagri offers precision crop spraying service with XAG agricultural drones in Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania, helping farmers sustainably treat pests and reap the benefits of improved yields. In 2019, XAG has worked with Sunagri to provide drone interventions that were successful in managing the crop-eating fall armyworm.

Fraser Zhang, the owner of Sunagri Zambia, explained the solution on how to apply drones more effectively to support locust control operations. The first step is to inspect and map the fields before sunset where locust swarms are identified. The drones can then be deployed at night to focus their spraying forces against swarms that become dormant and rest in trees or on the ground after sunset.

“During the day, locust swarms are spread over an extremely large area and remain mobile in the air for long periods. Their dynamic movement makes it much more difficult to contain them. But at night, what we would target are static objects that can be sprayed accurately, “Zhang said.

Desert locusts are one of the species of short-horned grasshoppers, which have been considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world. They usually form in a swarm whose density can reach a whopping 80 million per square kilometer, eating large amounts of crops and vegetation and leaving people with food losses. Lobsters can reproduce exponentially and, if left unchecked, a group of their population would multiply 20 times in just three months and grow 400 times in half a year.

According to the United Nations, since January 2020, hungry desert locusts have spread to dozens of countries in Africa and Southwest Asia, some of which reported the worst locust increase in decades. The Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen are the epicenter of the crisis, with more than 48 million people facing acute food insecurity.

Zambia also experienced a similar infestation on 300,000 hectares of land in 2020, but by a different species called African migratory locusts (AML). “The western province of Zambia is the hardest hit by locusts. Mature swarms are expected to have laid eggs at this point, which will hatch and lead to a new wave of invasions in the coming months,” said Fraser Zhang.

With more extreme weather events occurring frequently, the locust crisis is unlikely to go away any time soon. We should race to test new tools and technologies, such as agricultural drones, that would help better respond to any outbreak now and in the future.