Measures launched to control locusts

China has rolled out contingency measures to closely monitor and control the invasion and spread of desert locusts to ensure the grain harvest and protect ecological safety.

Although it is highly unlikely that desert locusts will invade China, it is still necessary for local authorities to take precautions, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the General Administration of Customs and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Monday night.

It noted that the country will step up locust control efforts in a bid to make sure that desert locusts from outside the country will not pose a threat to food security and rural livelihoods, and that outbreaks of domestic locusts will not turn into a plague, with no more than 5 percent of crops affected.

Earlier this year, the desert locust became widespread in East Africa, Western Asia and the area around the Red Sea. The situation is particularly worrisome in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicted that the desert locust plague may last until June, with swarms growing to 500 times the current level.

In the provincial-level regions of Tibet, Yunnan and Xinjiang, which border countries affected by the species, local authorities are urged to set up monitoring stations on the potential migration routes of the destructive pests, according to the notice.

Professional prevention and control teams should also be set up in these areas, it said, adding that emergency prevention and control materials should be stockpiled.

Cross-region communication and cooperation should be strengthened to enhance exchanges on information to estimate the possibility of a locust invasion, as well as the latest technology on desert locust prevention and control, it added.

To better control locusts in domestic agricultural areas, chemical control methods will be adopted for areas with a high density of the pests, while medium-or low-density areas will use biological and ecological control methods, the notice said.

According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, an average of 10 million hectares of farmland suffer from locust plagues annually in the country.

The administration also requires an investigation into the hidden dangers of grasshoppers in major grasslands in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Sichuan, and the strengthening of prevention and control at key points of their migration routes on China's borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

China has formed a mature locust prevention and control response mechanism and has established a national four-tier locust monitoring and early warning system.