Red locusts on Lanzarote cause fears for farmers

Isolated examples of red locusts on Lanzarote have caused fears that the island may experience larger swarms of the insects.

The winter’s heavy rains have caused a large hatching of locusts on mainland Africa, and the easterly winds have already brought a few specimens of the biblical insect to the island.

The red locust is a large grasshopper, about the size of a human finger, that is completely harmless to humans but can cause serious damage to crops. When large numbers hatch out, they can form swarms that are impossible to control.

The last time swarms of locusts arrived on Lanzarote was in 2004, although the insects that arrived on that occasion were too weak and exhausted to cause serious problems to crops.

A more serious plague, remembered by older islanders, occurred in 1958 and caused serious damage to crops and genuine hardship on an island that still relied on agriculture before the arrival of tourism.