Locusts as a pest of agriculture have been heard since ancient times, in fact, it is not a rare species, there are many in the grassland, also known as grasshoppers. There are also grasshoppers in the fields, but they do not harm the four sides, and they can only collude in a special environment, which has a great relationship with the geographical environment of one side.
The arid environment is more suitable for the reproduction and growth of locusts, locusts are a super reproductive species, in dry and exposed soil, each square meter of soil can lay four or five thousand egg pieces, does it sound like the scalp is tingling? Therefore, if there is no rain in one climate, the dry soil moisture content is low, or the area of lakes and rivers is reduced, it will provide a good breeding ground for locusts. This, coupled with the current general increase in global temperatures, has shortened the time for locusts to overwinter. Although they also have more natural enemies, like birds and insects do not like to survive in arid environments, they undoubtedly create conditions for locusts to survive.
Locust plagues occur when they increase and flood, and there is no grass where they go, which causes great harm to crops and animal husbandry. Crops such as wheat, corn, sorghum and other crops are the targets of their attacks, but fortunately, today's water conservancy facilities and science and technology are more developed, in addition to conserving water and soil, locusts can also be controlled by pesticides. But in ancient times, there were no such advanced means, so how did they protect their crops?
As early as the Book of Poetry, there is such a saying, that is, locusts are infested, endangering the crops of the people, and people use fire to destroy them. In ancient times, because they did not understand the phenomenon of locusts, they always felt that a large number of locusts were divine insects sent by heaven to punish them, and it must be because they did not do the right thing to provoke the heavens to suffer this catastrophe. So burning incense and kneeling to pray to the gods, of course, is useless, we must look at it with a scientific eye.
As early as the time of Tang Xuanzong, there was a plague of locusts, and Yao Chong, as the prime minister of the party, took the initiative to request to govern, but Tang Xuanzong refused his request for fear that poor governance would affect his image. However, Yao Chong was more firm in saying that if the governance was not good, he would return to his hometown, and proper governance was the credit of your Tang Xuanzong, so of course the emperor agreed.
Yao Chong led the local people to carry out insecticidal raids at night, first of all, they dug a pit next to the field, and ignited a fire around them, because the insects like to fly to the light at night, a large number of locusts were extinguished, they buried the locusts they killed on the spot, and eradicated the local locust plague.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, people began to deal with locusts by shoveling eggs and rooting out roots. People will find the nest of locusts in the ground and use the method of digging up soil and cutting roots to eliminate them, which is very tiring, and sometimes does not get the desired results. Later, someone used a mixture of aged vinegar and a hundred herbs to kill the eggs, which is probably the prototype of the original pesticide!
Or the people of the Yuan Dynasty are more advanced in consciousness, they are ahead of the realization that locusts breed in dry soil, like where water and grass are abundant, there are few locusts breeding, so a good management of the environment can fundamentally solve the problem of locusts that are out of control.
In modern times, with the rise of global temperatures and the reduction of vegetation coverage, locusts have begun to erupt again, for example, africa is now facing locust problems, which has caused the loss of 1 billion crops this year, and locusts have also spread to Asia. The outbreak of any species is not random, and protecting the environment, energy conservation and emission reduction is the task we should do now.