These incredible photos capture the biblical-like scenes in Madagascar where a plague of locusts - numbering in their billions - have descended on the country's farmland for the third year running.

An enormous dark cloud of the flying insects is pictured obscuring the sky in the east African island country's capital of Antananarivo, sparking panic for Madagascar's nine million agricultural workers.

After first occurring in 2012 - the gigantic plague is no longer a phenomenon but an annual migration of the bugs - which can each eat their own body weight in food every day.
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesAn enormous dark cloud of the flying insects is pictured obscuring the sky in the east African country's capital of Antananarivo - sparking panic among farmers
Left to themselves, the locusts would devastate the country's agriculture, each consuming around two grams of food each day that they are among crops.

Desperate farmers have been attempting to protect their land by starting fires and increasing their use of insecticides, the Independent reports.

The seasonal locust problem started in 2010 but became an annual plague in 2012 after campaigns to tackle the insects were underfunded according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

In September 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO tried to tackle the problem by launching a three-year emergency programme.
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesLeft alone, the locusts would devastate the country's agriculture as they can each consume their own body weight (around two grams) in food every day
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesThe seasonal locust problem started in 2010 but became an annual plague in 2012 after campaigns to tackle the insects were underfunded according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
The initiative is hoping to control the locust populations thereby protecting millions of vulnerable people from going hungry or losing their livelihoods.

To protect Madagascar's naturally diverse ecosystem, control operations are carried out using bio pesticides.

Plagues of locusts appear in both the Bible and the Quran, including one of the biblical plagues of Egypt. The swarming behaviour is believed to be the result of overcrowding.

It is estimated that the largest swarms have covered hundreds of square miles and consisted of many billions of locusts.
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesDesperate farmers have been attempting to protect their land by swinging makeshift batons, starting fires and increasing their use of insecticides
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesA family takes a picture of the vast cloud of locusts in a photo taken in the Madagascan capital of Antananarivo today