How to rid East Africa of locusts? Serve them in a kebab or drive them to cannibalism

A scientist handles a locust used for research inside a laboratory at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), an international scientific research institute, in Nairobi, Kenya June 24, 2020. Picture taken June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Jackson Njehia

NAIROBI, (Reuters) - Eat them, poison them, and use scent to drive them to cannibalism - as a second wave of locusts threatens to devour East Africa's crops, scientists in a Nairobi lab are experimenting with novel ways to kill them.

Swarms are the worst for three generations, encouraged by unseasonably wet weather and dispersed by a record number of cyclones. The destructive pests could cost East Africa and Yemen $8.5 billion this year, the World Bank has said.