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| Brown duck troops at Xinjiang border in China. Photo: CGTN |
China government has collected ducks from their citizens to fight the Locusts invasion. China sent troops of ducks to the west of the county to fight locusts.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and a former Governor of Jilin province Mr Han Changfu said the ducks were voluntarily donated by the citizens to fight the locusts.
" Chinese voluntarily gave the brown ducks to the government through agricultural collection centres. This was done to curb the locusts from invading the Chinese farms. Immediately after we got the news of desert locust spotted near the border, we announced and preparation started. They crossed the border on Saturday and we sent the brown duck troops on Sunday, " the Minister said.
As Kenya continues to spend millions of money on the aerial spray, insecticides and other scientific methods in the fight against locust infestation, the world's second-largest economy and the most industrialised nation has gone for a biological method.
China has deployed an army of over 1,000,000 ducks to feed on the dreaded locusts. It is estimated that a duck could feed between 500-1000 locusts a day.
5000 ducks could finish a swarm of desert locusts in a single day. This method has been regarded as the most effective method to deal with desert locusts.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) applauds China for the method citing its the only effective method that the artificial techniques.
It is not the first time for China to use the method. 15 years ago China was affected by the same calamity and the ducks controlled the situation within a week.
The Chinese government which is already struggling with the coronavirus has sent the army of ducks to its Xinjiang border in the far west of the country, where it meets Pakistan and India as the locusts continue to swarm eastwards.
The birds dubbed “duck troops” have been used before to contain the locust infestation and proved to be more effective than insecticides.
The infestation in China has been attributed to the neighbouring Pakistan and India where they have already devastated crops in large swathes of land.
The dreaded insects are said to have originated from Yemen where they split into two with another swarm reaching Africa through the northern parts.
"Duck troops" gather at the border to face locust swarms pic.twitter.com/1J4r3dmmJk— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 19, 2020
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