Southern Ukraine is suffering from a large-scale locust invasion. Kherson, Zaporizhia, and partly Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions have been hit the hardest. According to ecologists and farmers, the situation has become unprecedented — the insects are destroying green spaces, leaving behind "scorched earth.".
"The locusts eat everything in their path. It's like the Mongol-Tatars - they flew in, destroyed everything alive and flew away. The harvest can be lost up to 100%," says ecologist Volodymyr Sheludko. According to him, sunflower, corn, sugar beets, and vegetables suffer the most. Grain crops, in particular wheat, are less vulnerable if they are already ripe, because locusts mainly feed on green mass.
The reasons for the mass reproduction of pests were favorable weather conditions - drought, heat, as well as the draining of the Kakhovka reservoir, which changed the microclimate of the region. The problem was largely complicated by the fact that the fight against locusts was not coordinated at the state level, and the efforts of individual farmers turned out to be insufficient.
"Abandoned fields and uncultivated land, the number of which increased sharply due to the war, have become a kind of "reservation" for locusts," adds Sheludko.
Kherson agrarian Igor Yosypenko calls the situation a complex agro-ecological disaster. According to him, back in May, 55 thousand hectares of winter crops in the Beryslav district died due to ecological and technogenic factors, including the consequences of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. The total losses of agrarians are estimated at approximately one billion hryvnias.
"Local farmers have not seen a drought like this year in the last 30 years," says Yosypenko. Previously, farmers asked to introduce a "special regime" in the region and develop compensation and support programs. But there was no response from the authorities.
Locusts are massively attacking the remnants of green plantations that survived the drought. A special plant protection regime has been in effect in Zaporizhia region since July 15. Areas with wild vegetation are being cultivated — it is this vegetation that is the “food” for insects. To date, the infestation has covered approximately 20 thousand hectares.
In Kherson region, such a regime has been in effect since June, and as of the end of the month, only about 300 hectares had been cultivated. Despite this, local authorities have already considered the issue of canceling the special regime, which has caused outrage among farmers.
In early July, locusts were also discovered in the Odessa region, in particular near the village of Myrnopollya. According to the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, these are the larvae of the Italian cockroach, a type of locust. Currently, mass treatment is not being carried out, since the number of insects is “below the economic threshold,” but farmers warn that sunflowers are being actively destroyed, and some farms may lose up to 25% of their harvest.
According to Sheludko, the locust invasion may reach other regions.
In particular, “locust clouds” are moving towards Poltava and Kirovohrad regions. There is information that pests have already been detected in Kyiv and even certain areas of Zhytomyr regions. However, it is not a fact that locusts will be able to spread en masse in these regions, because the microclimate there is completely different — in particular, it is more humid.
"To localize the pest invasion, it is necessary to treat large areas of land with "heavy" insecticides. I repeat: this should be a comprehensive treatment, the efforts of individual farmers will not overcome the problem, and not everyone has the money for chemicals," the ecologist notes.
There are also "biological" methods of protection. For example, locusts "don't like" millet, so it is recommended to "border" fields with other crops with millet.
However, it is obvious that this should have been done in the spring and coordinated at the state level.
"Farmers would hardly have sown millet at their own expense if growing this crop made little economic sense. Moreover, at first no one expected that it would come to a locust invasion," adds Sheludko.
At the same time, the locust invasion does not pose a significant threat to the overall harvest nationwide.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2025 the total area of sown land will be over 23 million hectares (of which about 11 million are under grain crops). Hordes of pests have covered approximately 30 thousand hectares - it is there that their maximum concentration was detected and emergency treatment is being carried out. That is, we are talking about areas of up to 0.15% of the entire agricultural area.
"So far we are dealing with local crop losses. Of course, many local farmers are suffering, but there is no catastrophe on a national scale. Another important thing is that Ukraine has never had such a locust invasion. As a phenomenon, this is more typical of regions with a subtropical climate. This means that the climate in Ukraine is changing rapidly, and in the future hordes of pests can really become a serious threat to our agricultural sector," concluded Oleg Pendzin, head of the Economic Discussion Club.
