China Mobilizes for Locust Fight

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 11, 2002

China Mobilizes for Locust Fight

China is mobilizing money and manpower to fight against a locust plague that is likely to threaten its summer crops and grasslands.

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China is mobilizing money and manpower to fight against a locust plague that is likely to threaten its summer crops and grasslands.

Encouraged by the chronic dry spell and the degradation of the environment in some regions, locusts have proliferated in large numbers in northern China this year, according to Vice Minister of Agriculture Liu Jian.

The insects have appeared in 29.33 million hectares of mostly uncultivated land and beaches in 14 provinces and municipalities.

The locust-infested area has expanded by 10 percent compared with last year.

In Tianjin, the density of locusts reached up to 5,000 per square meter, according to local pest-control official.

Liu, who is also director of the ministry's locust plague control headquarters, said that now was the best time to control the locusts' migration and ensure that the plague would not spread further because most of the locusts have not yet flown to new areas.

The ministry plans to have the locusts under control by Saturday, according to the official.

The central government has allocated nearly 50 million yuan (about 6 million U.S. dollars) to help eradicate the destructive insects, Liu said.

In addition to the efforts of people on the ground, crop-dusting aircraft are being used to spray insecticide to eradicate locusts in some regions along the Yellow River and around Tianjin.

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