China may face locust invasion, authorities urged to prepare for possible arrival

While China recently sent a duck army to Pakistan to rescue it from locust infestation problem, a Chinese government body has now reportedly warned that it could face a desert locust invasion itself. According to an international media outlet, China's National Forestry and Grassland Administrations urged local authorities to prepare for the possible arrival of the voracious insects from neighbouring Pakistan and India. 

According to a statement on China's National Forestry website, the risk of swarms entering the country is low, however, China will be hampered in tracking the locusts by a lack of monitoring techniques and little knowledge of migration patterns. Further, the statement read that the locust swarms could enter the Tibet region from Pakistan and India or the southwestern province of Yunnan through Myanmar. There is also a possibility that that swarms could fly across Kazakhstan and into China's western Xinjiang region. 

READ: China To Send 'duck Army' To Assist Pakistan With Locust Infestation

Although, according to reports, Beijing has set up a task force that is expected to meet this month to monitor and act on any locust invasion. Furthermore, the Chinese government body reportedly said that the local forestry and grassland administrations must be fully aware of the extreme importance of prevention and control work against the swarms. It further added that the administration should store pesticides and equipment and have personnel ready to take immediate and effective measures once locusts are detected. 

READ: Questions Raised About Of China Anti-locust ‘duck Army’

'Waves and waves of swarms'

The locusts have already ravaged crops and pastures in several countries in East Africa and now they have reportedly spread into India and Pakistan. The swarms reportedly migrated to Kenya from Ethiopia and Somalia, which have not seen an invasion at this high level in over two decades. Pakistan was invaded by the locust swarm in 2019, which proceeded to lay waste to the country's cotton crop and is now menacing the wheat harvest. 

Last month, a UN official reportedly also said that the 'waves and waves of swarms' are spreading further across the region and destroying crops. The United Nations Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock in a press conference also warned that the locust crisis has the potential 'to be the most devastating plague of locusts in any of our living memories if we don't reduce the problem faster than we're doing at the moment.'

READ: East Africa's Huge Locust Outbreak Now Spreads To Congo

READ: Rajasthan: Central Team Visits Barmer To Assess Loss Of Vegetation Due To Locust Attack