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Ministry Set to Curb Locust Plague
Although conditions are right for a locust plague to continue this summer, the Ministry of Agriculture has promised that the insects will be brought under control within the next two months, according to report of China Daily on June 19.
By Saturday, locusts had swarmed over 3.66 million hectares of mostly uncultivated land in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and nine other provinces and municipalities including Henan, Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin.
China, whose earliest locust disasters date back more than 2, 700 years, has accumulated enough experience and expertise to eradicate locusts, said Zhu Enlin, division director of the National Agro-Technical Extension and Service Center under the ministry.
So far, eight crop-dusting aircraft and 50,000 people have sprayed insecticide on 800,000 hectares of land, and the ministry has urged localities to destroy locusts in their breeding areas and stop them from migrating to farmlands.
Agricultural experts said that they are ready to wage biological warfare against locusts. Metarhizium-flavoviride, a kind of epiphyte, will be favored over chemical pesticides.
The epiphyte grows as a parasite in locusts' bodies, absorbing their nourishment until the insects die, said Zhang Zehua, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
According to Zhu, lack of funds may hinder eradication efforts. About 30 million yuan (3.61 million US dollars) has been allocated for this summer's locust prevention work. However, another 30 million yuan (3.61 million US dollars) is still needed.
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