Crickets break for coffee in Brazil

Crickets have reached plague proportions in one of Brazil’s most important
coffee growing regions. Swarms of insects have invaded several towns and
caused widespread damage to plantations. Properties afflicted by the swarms
will probably lose as much as 60 per cent of their coffee plants.

In Monte Santo de Minas, one of the worst hit places, the authorities
say 10 million crickets have invaded the town and surrounding area. The
local council has launched a cricket-hunting campaign, offering children
one sweet for every five crickets they catch.

The crickets, which grow up to 15 centimetres long, lay their eggs in
the roots of coffee plants, and the newly hatched nymphs eat the roots.
As many as 400 nymphs may infest a single plant. Already hit by falling
prices, many coffee growers say they cannot afford the pesticides they need
to protect their crop.

A spokesman for the Brazilian Coffee Institute in Varginha says the
attacks began six years ago and have grown worse each year. The swarms are
seasonal and are limited to areas at an altitude of less than 900 metres.

The institute blames environmental damage caused in part by cereal farmers,
poor husbandry and the near extinction of the crickets’ natural predators,
in particular the armadillo.

The crickets are also a nuisance because they are extremely noisy. ‘At
first, it was unbearable but now we have got used to it,’ said a council
official from Monte Santo de Minas.