400 Billion Desert Locusts may Invade Asia

Where did the 400 billion desert locusts go? Will it invade Asia?

Attention: The new outbreak of pneumonia has not stopped, and the media has reported that 400 billion desert locusts have swept Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and other countries and Asia, India, Pakistan and other countries, which are close to China’s borders. As a result, news came again in less than a week. 

According to News Agencies, the locust plague in India has basically ended. At present, only a few locusts are still gathering in parts of western Rajasthan. Where did the 400 billion desert locusts go? Will this locust disaster threaten China? 

Reporters recently interviewed the director, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Environmental and Ecological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences and Ma Fangzhou, an associate researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The worst locust plague in more than 20 years

The locust disaster, together with the drought and flood disasters, is called the three natural disasters of agriculture. 

Since there are records of human history, there have been records of locust plagues. As early as 2470 to 2220 BC, the ancient Egyptians carved locusts on the tombs.

According to the records of the locust plagues during the Yin and Shang Dynasties in Oracle inscriptions, the locust plagues in the Central Plains during the Yin and Shang Dynasties mostly occurred between July and November of the Gregorian calendar, spanning the following summer, autumn and winter seasons.

According to incomplete statistics, recorded locust plagues occurred in ancient China on average every 8.8 years. 

Even now, the locust plague has not been eliminated.

According to the National Sustainable Plan for Locust Disaster Management (2014-2020) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, at present, the annual occurrence of locusts in China is about 280 million mu, distributed in 20 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). Among them, grassland locusts occur about 180 million mu per year. 

The remaining 100 million acres are basically agricultural and animal husbandry areas.

The locust plague not only seriously threatened agricultural production, but also disrupted the ecological balance. 

Take the desert locust that caused the locust disaster as an example. The desert locust is the most destructive migratory pest in the world. It has a strong flying ability and a large amount of food, and can gather to form a huge locust swarm. 

This locust can fly 150 kilometers with the wind every day, and the survival time is about 3 months. 

A female locust can lay about 300 eggs, and a one-square-kilometer group of locusts eats as much as 35,000 people a day.

This is a desert locust. Look at its fierce little eyes and strong body. Compared to it, the tender green grasshopper is a little obedient

Ma Fangzhou said that from 1986 to 1989. 

Some countries in Africa and Asia, such as Mauritania, Morocco, Mali, Chad, Niger and Saudi Arabia had been hit by desert locusts, and the affected area exceeded 16.8 million hectares. 

According to the prediction of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the scale of the locust plague will exceed that of 1986.

This locust plague was caused by the locust plague at the end of 2018. The huge number of residual locusts caused a sharp increase in the number of desert locusts. 

In addition, the two hurricanes in 2019 just brought several large-scale rainfalls. 

The vegetation of the original source of the desert locusts was lush, which provided conditions for the growth and maturity of the desert locust larvae.

According to the statistics of the Kenyan government, over 70,000 hectares of farmland in the country are currently covered by insect swarms. 

Each square kilometer of farmland can accommodate up to 150 million locusts, and the tiled area is close to 250 football fields.

Wherever the locusts go, they cover the sky and the sun, leaving no grass. Cresman, chief locust expert of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said that if locusts enter the farmland in the morning, they can eat up the entire farmland by noon.

In western India, severely affected Rajasthan and Gujarat, large areas of crops have been reduced or have failed. 

The situation in Rajasthan is the most severe, with an area of ​​more than 360,000 hectares, and Gujarat has more than 18,000 hectares. 

Crops, castor bean, cumin and wheat have suffered the most losses.

The locust disasters are all strange tricks

The locust swarm eats all the plants that can eat, seriously threatening the survival of other local creatures.

It is very likely that local farmers will lose their grains. Somalia, Pakistan and other countries declared a state of emergency in response to the locust disaster.

In the face of a large number of locust swarms, the best method is air control, that is, spraying pesticides by aircraft. 

After discovering the locust disaster, the Uganda government held an emergency meeting and decided to mobilize the army to use helicopters to assist in spraying pesticides to protect crops. 

Ethiopia’s only three aircraft used to spray pesticides were also deployed, and pesticide pumps and vehicle-mounted sprayers were used to disperse locust swarms. 

However, due to the high cost of aircraft locust extermination, many countries in Africa cannot afford it. 

Some farmers can only make various noises in the fields to drive locusts away. Kenyan police used tear gas and even shot at locust swarms.

In front of the locust plague, Pakistan and India's rivals also put down their mustards and joined hands against locusts. 

India and Pakistan have held five high-level meetings around the locust plague. 

At the meeting of the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan on February 18, the import of pesticides from India to combat the locust plague was included in the cabinet’s main agenda. 

Previously, since August last year, Pakistan has suspended trade with India due to the Kashmir issue.

The locust disaster in eastern Pakistan was severely affected. A large number of cotton and wheat crops were gnawed and farmers were seriously damaged. To this end, the Pakistani government sent a large number of aircraft to carry out insecticide spraying operations. 

In the process of fighting against locusts, an aircraft crashed unfortunately, killing two staff members.

In addition to spraying pesticides, the Pakistani government will also provide farmers with locust carcasses at a price of 20 rupees per kilogram (equivalent to 1 yuan) to make feed.

Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said that the situation of locusts in Pakistan is now under control, but "we must start our work as soon as possible", and we can mobilize the Air Force to control the insects with aerial spray, else there can be Greater destruction.

In India, Malathion and other insecticides have been used to drive locusts in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India to prevent locusts from migrating. Farmers also knocked out locusts in the land with a noise.

From the current situation, India's locust plague has been effectively controlled. In the countryside of Rajasthan, there are a lot of dense locust carcasses under trees.

It is understood that since May last year, India's locust control agencies have begun drug spraying operations in more than a dozen areas in western India where locust disasters may occur. 

They took advantage of the locust's immobile nature on the tree in the morning and started spraying at 5 a.m. every day. 

The insecticidal effect was very ideal.

Desert locusts only have a lifespan of more than 100 days. After arriving in India, many locusts died after laying eggs. But before death, these locusts may have left a lot of eggs in India. 

Experts predict that there will be another large-scale locust disaster in June this year.

The Indian Locust Disaster Prevention and Control Department has planned to use helicopters and drones to eliminate locusts in response to a new round of locust disasters.

Approaching the border of China?

India’s Rajasthan is less than 2,000 kilometers away from Lhasa, the capital of China ’s Tibet Autonomous Region, and 4,000 kilometers away from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. With the desert locust flying at a distance of 150 kilometers a day, it will approach the Chinese border within a month. Will these desert locusts threaten China?

The desert locust flight route

Ma Fangzhou said: "The migratory locusts have two forms in their natural state, scattered and gregarious. Only the latter form the locust plague, and the protagonist of the locust plague in China is the East Asian migratory locust."

"We used the mathematical model Maxent to calculate the suitable area for locusts. 

The mathematical model shows that except for very few areas such as Yunnan and Guangxi, most of China is not a suitable area for desert locusts." Ma Fangzhou also reminded, but also It cannot be taken lightly.

 In recent years, the climate has warmed, and the possibility of desert locusts living and spreading in China cannot be ruled out.

There are two main routes for desert locusts to enter China. One is to fly over the Himalayas, and the other is to enter Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar and Guangxi.

"Whether or not the locust disaster will enter, we must be fully prepared to respond." Li Junsheng emphasized that even if there are obstacles in the Himalayas, the desert locusts cannot fly over, but there are still some ports with lower elevations and cargo transportation.

 "Customs, agriculture and other departments should prepare for the entry of the locust disaster as soon as possible."

The desert migratory locust is more likely to choose another route to enter China. It is very important to take precautions to prevent locusts.

"It is necessary to strengthen monitoring." Li Junsheng pointed out that China has extensive experience in the management of locust disasters, mainly around the early methods of destroying the locust source.

Once the locusts accumulate and fly away, they can only spray pesticides to kill the locusts. "This will have a great impact on the ecological environment. Therefore, we must attach great importance to the locust disaster trends. We must use satellites and other real-time dynamic monitoring, do a good job in material reserves and formulate prevention and control plans."

Li Junsheng said that changes in the ecological environment are an important cause of the locust plague. 

"Previously, in some areas, rivers and tidal flats were transformed, which destroyed the original ecological balance, but it just met the conditions for the growth and development of locusts, triggering a small-scale locust disaster."