The locust is a worldwide agricultural pest
But in recent years, the value of locusts has been developed and has played an important role in various fields in the country.
To summarize it with internet hot words: inside I only promise, external I strike hard!
Locusts belong to the family Locustiaceae and are also known as grasshoppers.
There are more than 10,000 species of locusts in the world, which are mainly distributed in tropical, temperate grasslands and desert areas, and it can be said that large-scale locust plagues are likely to occur anywhere except the north and south poles.
Countries such as India, Pakistan, and Israel suffer from a locust crisis almost every few years, and ancient Chinese farmers have been threatened by this small locust for thousands of years.
And who would have thought that the pests that everyone shouted and beat in the past had a special role in the hands of some people.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="9" How scary are locusts >? </h1>
In 2020, there was an outbreak of locusts in the East African desert.
Less than two months after the locust outbreak, the number of locusts had increased to 400 billion.
This locust is also known as the "desert locust", its food is very large, an adult locust can eat almost 2 grams of food a day, it does not seem to be much, but what if it is calculated according to the number of 400 billion?
According to some Indian officials, a small group of desert locusts eats an average of food per day, equivalent to 2,500 people's rations.
The plague is even worse, with 40 million locusts per square kilometer and eating about 35,000 people in a day.
And the locusts are very reproductive, after a mating, they can produce about 200 to 400 eggs.
If the surrounding environment is warm and food is plentiful, it takes only 2 to 3 weeks for the locust to go from larva to adult.
At the same time, the lifespan of locusts will generally last for about 2 to 3 months, which means that the locusts will reproduce very quickly.
When the first generation of locusts was still flying in the sky, there may have been eggs of the fourth or even fifth generation of locusts on the ground.
At the same time, because locusts mainly live in hot and temperate areas, there is abundant precipitation and rich vegetation.
Those locust eggs could burst out of the ground at any moment because of any heavy rain.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the locust plague caused very serious damage to agriculture in East Africa.
Food shortages have occurred in many parts of Somalia and Ethiopia, agricultural production has come to a complete standstill and millions of lives have been threatened as never before.
And the locust plague spread so quickly that it spread from the deserts of East Africa to India and Pakistan in less than two months. Now, the number of locusts is expected to reach 500 billion, which can be said to be only one step away from China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68>how has China responded to locusts? </h1>
Since ancient times, China has been a country with frequent locust plagues, and the scope and extent of the disasters can be said to be the highest in the world.
In the pre-Qin period, people called large-scale locust plagues as 螽 [zhōng] or 蟓 [xiàng].
In the book "History of Entomology in China", 538 large-scale locust plagues occurred directly from 707 BC to 1907 AD.
In ancient times, people watched a large swarm of locusts emerge from the ground and fly into the sky, like a "locust wind" raging on farmland.
In just the blink of an eye, the fertile fields became a bare dead land.
Some ancients believed that "after the gouging, there will be locusts."
Others believe that locusts are fish and shrimp in the sea;
What's more, the idea that locusts are a natural phenomenon... In short, the ancients deified this insect, and they decided to use sacrifice to solve the locust plague!
During the Song Dynasty, there were special activities to worship the "locust god", especially near the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins that were the most affected in history, and there were even locust temples dedicated to the "locust god".
However, some people have found a variety of scientific prevention and control methods, such as burning with fire, harvesting grain early, and cultivating natural enemies, and have also achieved good results.
Today, with the development of science and technology, we also have a more detailed understanding of locusts in China:
Locusts are mainly divided into flying locusts and native locusts, while the flying locusts distributed in China are mainly the three species of East Asian flying locusts, Asian flying locusts and Tibetan flying locusts, of which the East Asian flying locusts have the widest distribution range in China and the most serious harms.
The male adults of this locust are about 35.5 to 41.5 mm long, and the female adults are a little larger, with a body length of about 39.5 to 51.2 mm.
The overall color is green or yellowish brown.
Although a single one looks very inconspicuous, the locust is a gregarious insect. When the swarm of locusts flies, it can really be said to be "covering the sky".
The previous statement is very frightening, but in fact, in recent years, we have rarely heard of a large-scale locust outbreak in China.
There are always netizens who will say: In Yungui, fried locusts are not all eaten.
But in fact, the demise of locusts in China is inseparable from the efforts of generations of farmers in China.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the prevention and control of locust plagues immediately became the most important task of China's agricultural departments, and even a special locust control headquarters was set up for this purpose.
After research, scientists found that most of the locusts lay eggs in the bare and wet land, so in order to fight the terrible locust plague, the country began to build water conservancy, plant trees and land, fundamentally changed the growth environment of locusts.
At the same time, the government is also pushing farmers to plant crops that locusts do not like in areas with high locust infestation in the country.
In short, in recent years, the locust plague in the country has basically been controlled.
What is the use of locusts?
Although the locust is terrifying, now, the development path of the locust is... A bit crooked.
Open the web search, you will find that it reads: locusts, nutritious, tender meat, delicious like shrimp... This is a bit strange indeed, but it has to be admitted that in many countries, locusts have been able to change a wide variety of cuisines.
There are also foods such as canned food and biscuits, which are very popular, and many farmers at home and abroad have begun to scientifically breed locusts.
At the same time, China has developed an affordable and effective way to combat the locust plague.
You heard that right, it's really affordable.
In May 2000, there was a massive locust plague in northern Xinjiang, and in addition to the chemical-based locust exterminators, there was a "locust extermination duck" force of hundreds of thousands of ducks.
It is hard to believe that after these 100,000 "locust killing ducks" entered the grasslands of Xinjiang, the locust extermination effect was very obvious.
By the end of August 2000, at least tens of millions of locusts in Xinjiang had been eaten by ducks.
Who would have thought that the little duck would become the hero of Xinjiang's "anti-locust disaster relief".
According to local herders, ducks eat twice a day, depart at 4 a.m. and return to the cage at 9 p.m., and a single duck can exterminate more than 100 locusts a day.
The most amazing thing is that these ducks are caused by eating locusts for a long time.... The meat was very good and sold at a high price in the market.
Now That China is no longer afraid of locusts, our prevention and control of locust plagues has reached a new height.
Even if the locust plague from abroad hits now, we can call it coming and going.