APRIL 2007

In Nigeria’s far north-eastern Borno State, man is biting back against the desert locust, reports the BBC News website's Senan Murray.

Swarms of migrating locusts seasonally strip the semi-arid region of its scanty vegetation and crops.

But Gambo Ibrahim, 27, a locust hunter, says the people of Borno have found a way of converting the desert locust’s assault into an annual banquet.

They eat the locusts which they call "desert shrimps".

“In pidgin English, we say: ‘Na do me, I do you’,” says Mr Ibrahim, who has been hunting locusts for eight years. “I mean, yes, the locusts are eating up our crops, but we are also eating them up and making money to boot. “So, both man and locust are losers, but I think they are worse off because we are eating them. I guess you could say one bad turn deserves another,” he says with a chuckle.

“In addition to the safety boots and a minimum of three layers of clothes – jeans is the best – you also need a very powerful torch like the one I have on my head,” Mr Ibrahim explains. “You use it to see your way in the Sahara at night. The torch is actually also a trap. "The locusts are attracted to it and they literally just come flying into your face and all you really have to do is

“We then put them in bags and head for the market. A bag of live locusts fetches between $26 and $30. Locusts are simply money-spinners,” Mr Ibrahim says.

“Most of our buyers are women who in turn dress the locusts, fry them and sell them to members of the public.”

“We buy the locusts from the boys," says Esther Daniel, who sells fried locusts in Maiduguri town.

"After that we remove their wings so they can’t fly,” she says.

“We simply deep-fry them in vegetable oil. Then they are ready to be eaten as a snack,” Mrs Daniel explains.

“We make a powder of salted hot chilli which we call yaji. You eat the locust by dipping it in the yaji.”

“We eat them because they taste good and they are nutritious. In fact, they taste like shrimps,” says Judith Passo, a self-confessed locust eater.

“The hind legs are the tastiest part. They are the ones that actually make people call the locusts 'desert shrimps'.

“Desert shrimps,” she added laughing.

Words and pictures: Senan Murray