WHEN the balance of the ecosystem is disrupted, the result is a disaster. This is what has occurred in four regencies in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, which since early this year have been plagued by locusts. The swarms of locusts are consuming immense quantities of paddy leaves and corn, resulting in harvest failure of agricultural crops.

Human activity was one of the triggers for the population explosion of the Locusta migratoria m