In more than 50 countries, 300,000,000 people are subject to the threat of locust. This 1956 documentary shows that The Desert Locust exacts a heavy toll on crops over a vast area of Asia and Africa, from the Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal. The insect’s life cycle is traced – mating, egg-laying and hatching, emergence and growth of the immature hoppers, their coalescence into marching bands, emergence of the winged adults and the formation of the destructive swarms. Counter-measures depend on widespread reporting of locust movements. The Anti-Locust Research Centre in London receives reports and is able to issue forecasts. On the basis of 25 years’ observations, general patterns of the flow of locust swarms can be discerned. These are shown plotted on maps and related to actual migrations in 1954. Research on the insect itself also goes ahead, in wind tunnels, in laboratories and in the field. All these efforts have the common aim of destroying the pest. For more information about Sh...