All photos: Rijasolo/AFP/Getty Images
The island country located off the coast of east Africa is experiencing a harrowing infestation of the Malagasy migratory locust, which threatens the livelihoods of the more than 13 million people who live there.
A single locust can eat the equivalent of its weight (about 2 grams) in a single day, and considering that a medium-sized swarm usually includes millions of individual insects, that's a whole lot of food. In a country where more than 90 percent of the population lives on meager means, the threat to the country's rice crop is a life-or-death situation.
To help tackle the locust problem, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has offered tens of millions of dollars worth of biofriendly pest control aid to fight the seasonal infestation.
A farmer from Amparihibe village shows off a bag full of locust that will be used to feed pigs. Locusts are edible, and in some countries, they are considered delicacies.
Armed with pesticide-spreading equipment, an FAO helicopter sent by the United Nations takes off to fight a swarm of locusts in Tsiroanomandidy.
Locusts swarm as the FAO helicopter sprays biofriendly pesticide over crops in Tsiroanomandidy.
A member of the FAO technical team holds up a locust in Tsiroanomandidy.
A swarm of locusts flies over Amparihibe village.
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