All language subtitles for Ch4 Unreported World 2020 Swarm Chasers 1080p.eng

On Unreported World,

alongside coronavirus,
there's another plague.

Billions of locusts are swarming
across Kenya and neighbouring
countries,

devouring crops and threatening
millions with starvation.

Sahar Zand reports from Kenya

on the teams attempting to hunt down
and destroy the locust swarms.

INSECTS BUZZ

Alongside the coronavirus,

Kenyans are enduring
another infestation.

It leaves families destitute
and starving.

Vast swarms of desert locusts
are devouring every crop

and scrap of vegetation
they land on.

And their numbers are growing
at a frightening rate.

I have my first encounter
with the locusts

in southern Kenya.

Look!

Wow.

Wow.

All of this black

are the tiny hoppers.

Hoppers are essentially
baby locusts.

They've been incubating
under the ground

in eggs laid two weeks ago
by a passing locust swarm.

There's just so many of them.

The entire road is covered in them.

Newly-hatched locusts
are called hoppers.

They can't yet fly,
but feed voraciously.

Look, they're just coming
out of these tunnels.

During her three-month life,

a female locust can lay 250 eggs.

Within weeks, the hoppers
will be able to fly,

creating a new swarm.

You see these white things?

They're the locust eggs that these
teeny, tiny baby locusts

have just hatched from.

Just give them a couple of weeks,

and they're going to turn
into grown, mature locusts

that have been devastating this
entire country,

that have been affecting
the livelihoods

of millions of people in the region.

It looks like they are
multiplying by the minute.

What is your biggest worry
about your near future,

with this situation?

TRANSLATION:

Nearby, farmers are battling
the vast infestation

with pesticides supplied
by the Ministry of Agriculture.

But they have to source it abroad,
and supplies are running out.

Other farmers are looking
for help elsewhere.

LIVELY SINGING

In a special service,
they're asking God for help.

HE PRAYS

But their pastor reminds them

locusts were one of the ten plagues

God unleashed on Egypt
for defying his will.

ALL: Amen.

Why do you think God
sent the swarms?

Agriculture provides a livelihood
for more than 80% of the population
in Kenya,

and nearly 1.3 million
live on the edge of hunger.

Close to the congregation, I visit
the farm of Antony and his family.

He's 24 years old
and an agricultural student.

These hoppers are everywhere.

Oh, wow.

All the stems on these
are completely black.

They grow millet,
sorghum and cotton.

The adult locusts hardly spared
any of the crops,

and before moving on,
they left millions of eggs behind.

The financial cost of this
destruction is hitting already.

Antony has had to
drop out of college.

He and his parents show me
their grain stores.

Their crops were just about
ready for harvest

when the locusts attacked.

This is all your harvest
for this year? Yes.

How much do you normally have?

And this one isn't even full.

Government aircraft did spray
the swarms here with pesticide,

but only after a week.

Do you think the government
could have done more to help you?

The planting season is
just about to start,

but the family can't risk sowing
seeds with the farms still infested.

We head north to Turkana county.

It borders Ethiopia, where many
swarms are entering Kenya from.

In this semiarid area, unusual
rainfall has brought the greenery

locusts need to feed on, as well
as the moist soil to lay eggs.

There are reports that
swarms are gathering

of a size not seen here
for 70 years.

Oh, look at that!

Look!

Look.

Ah!

This is mental.

This entire wall...

Look at my feet!

They are tree locusts,
not desert locusts.

But they're a sign their larger and
more destructive cousins are close.

This is literally happening
in the middle of town.

This is not even in a rural area,
it's an urban area.

Oh...

Oh!

Early next morning, I'm riding
with Peter Lochakwan

and Alphonso Auren
from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Their job is to hunt down
locust swarms and destroy them.

Peter, what do we know about
this particular swarm so far?

Flying somewhere above us is one
of the six Kenyan military aircraft

equipped for spraying the locusts
with pesticide.

How important is it to get there
now, to get there fast?

Mm-hm.

So these locusts get their
energy from the sun,

because they're cold-blooded, and
it's important for us to get there

before the sun is properly our
in the sky and before it's hot.

We're literally swarm chasing.

When on the move, swarms can
travel over 100 miles in a day.

Locals are calling in sightings of
where swarms settled overnight.

We're looking for the exact
location of the locusts,

and he's getting loads of calls
on his hotline.

We're close to where
the swarm was sighted.

We just saw the pesticide spraying
plane, just there.

We know that the locusts
are somewhere here,

but where is the mystery.

The spraying aircraft
is running low on fuel.

But in the nick of time,

Peter spots a flash of yellow
in the bushes.

They're here, they're here.
A lot of them.

We've found them!

There're here.
They're on the ground.

See them? Down there.

They quickly find the main swarm.

They soon realise
it's one of the biggest

they've personally encountered.

Oh!

The team sends GPS coordinates
to the aircraft.

They show the swarm stretches
for seven square km -

at least 20 million locusts.

OK, come, come, come. Guys.

The pesticide used to
kill adult locusts

needs to be extremely powerful.

So the army plane circles low,

a signal to anyone below
to clear the area.

We're getting out of the area,
because they're about to spray.

An hour later, the swarm is no more.

But there are many other swarms
in the area to be hunted down.

We get news from other swarm hunters
200 miles south

that there are swarms in an area
that's vital to Kenya's economy.

We've approached the Highlands,

and it's visibly so much greener.

It's so lush here.

This is where the cash crops
are growing, like coffee, tea,

and agriculture here
is big business.

Many large firms here
export internationally.

Damage to their businesses will
take months to become apparent.

I'm heading to the local
government's office right now,

hoping that they can tell us
where the locusts are.

INDISTINCT

In Nanyuki, I meet John Hutu,

another swarm hunter working
for the Ministry of Agriculture.

A farmer is giving him
the location of a new swarm.

And these are the adult locusts,
mating and laying eggs right now?

Sure.

The next morning,
I head out with John.

This is an area full of small farms,

as well as protected wildlife
like white rhino and zebras.

This means it's often too
dangerous to use planes

spraying powerful pesticides.

Zakari is the farmer that spotted
the locusts and tipped off John.

Can you see that?

At first, you can't see them.

The deeper we go into the field,
the more of these locusts we see.

TRANSLATION:

But John, the swarm hunter,

decides this is a place where
they can't risk aerial spraying.

And I notice the river
is right there.

If the aerial spraying came,
they could poison the water. Yeah.

John marks the location where
the locusts have laid eggs

so that later, they can come back
and spray the newborn hoppers.

But for now, the farmers
are left on their own

to battle the swarm
threatening their crops.

We are going to one of the farms,

who are just across from where
the locust invasion is.

And they are trying to find
ways to scare them off

from entering their farms.

SHOUTING
Oh, no,

they've already gone to their farms.

They have arrived to your farm.

Near to where the swarm is resting,
across the river,

Jen and her family have
a one acre farm.

Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sad now!
The locusts are here now.

Even a small swarm can eat
the same amount of food in a day

as 35,000 people.

More locusts arrive,
so they light fires.

Jen hopes the smoke will repel them.

Since those locusts
arrived there yesterday,

the farmers have been doing
everything they can

to try and repel them
from their farms,

because they know, as soon as
one of them, a couple of them,

come into their farms,
the rest will follow.

First, they will devour everything,
then they will lay eggs

and their numbers will multiply.

Suddenly, locusts start
to fill the sky.

They're all above the farm now.

They fly over us but don't land.

Jen is safe, but the locusts are
now in her neighbour's farms.

It's only a matter of time
before these farmers

face much larger swarms.

Then they'll need much more than
small bonfires to fend them off.

How confident are you
that the government,

that the authorities will help you
tackle this before it's too late?

In the north,
larger swarms are gathering.

I head back to Turkana to join
swarm hunters Peter and Alphonso.

Peter and Alphonso have been
sending me updates of the reports

they've been receiving
on the locust helpline.

Apparently about three hours
north of here,

near the South Sudan border,

there's been sightings
of big swarms last night.

HE ASKS A QUESTION

It seems like
we're in the right area.

A few people we've asked
along the way,

they said they definitely
saw a big swarm

flying over in this
general direction.

Despite continuing to receive
calls from the locals,

reporting sightings
of locust swarms,

the guys from the Ministry
of Agriculture are staying in.

They told us that's because
they still haven't received

the pesticides from
the central government.

With no pesticide,
both the spraying aircraft

and the swarm hunters are grounded.

We're now in a county that in effect
has been abandoned to the locusts.

But we keep searching.

The chief Erot
and his father Ekeru

herd goats and live off their
milk and meat.

THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

But passing locust swarms
have devastated the grazing.

And, just as we'd seen in the south,
here, too, new swarms are emerging

from the locust eggs laid
by the earlier swarms.

THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

We continue our search
for the locust swarms.

We know that they are heading north
towards the border of South Sudan.

So at least we are going in the
right sort of general direction.

Just before sunset, we find them.

Holy... Look at that!

It's the biggest swarm
we've seen yet.

They're devouring everything
on their path and they're growing

and they're multiplying
by the second,

and the local authorities
can't do anything about it.

All that yellow behind me,
they're not yellow leaves.

All of them are locusts,
feeding on those trees.

All of these locusts here,

and nothing is being done
about them.

We wanted to ask the Kenyan
government about what we'd seen,

but they told us
no-one was available.

However, they insist they are
winning the war against locusts.

But since our filming,

the coronavirus has slowed
efforts to fight the infestation

and made it even harder
to import pesticides.

A second wave of locusts
in swarms up to 20 times larger

is now forming.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media