A team of 30 air force officers equipped with two helicopters
and five automobiles began on Thursday a five-day operation to
eliminate locusts plaguing rural southwest China.
The helicopters sprayed four tons of diluted biological
pesticide on Thursday in Ganzi and Shiqu counties in western Sichuan, which neighbors Tibet. Each helicopter sprayed 533 hectares of
pastureland in one operation.
The team, from the Chengdu military section of the People's
Liberation Army, will also spray in Gyanmda County, in eastern
Tibet, according to an officer.
Shiqu County was hit by swarms of locusts last year, with an
average density of 429 to 1,968 per square meter. About 11,000
hectares of pastureland was affected, causing a severe shortage of
feed for livestock in winter.
Tubdain Rongb, a Tibetan in Luoxu Town, said the locusts had
eaten almost his entire crop and pasture.
"Locusts are everywhere. You can trample dozens of locusts in
one step in the fields."
He said his household income would be cut by at least half this
year.
Tang Chuanjiang, a grassland specialist in Sichuan Province,
estimated that locusts will affect about one million hectares of
pasture and crop land in Sichuan this year.
Tang predicted the air force operation, which will cover 33,000
hectares, may bring the pest under effective control.
(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2007)