Locusts are ravaging East Africa

◆Albert

2020 is destined to bean extraordinary year.The novel coronavirus has been ravaging China continuously.The Australian fire has been burning for several months.The US flu has killed tens of thousands of people.Recently, another disaster is the locust epidemic.Locusts are known as grasshoppers andhave extremely strong reproductive capacity.They especially like towreak havocin tropical regions.There are nearly 1,000 species of grasshoppers in the world.Africa is currently suffering from the worst locust disaster.It is reported that the number of grasshoppers in East Africa has reached 360 billion, and experts estimate that the number of grasshoppers will double 500 times by April.

an extraordinary year 不平凡的一年

have extremely strong reproductive capacity 有极强的繁殖能力

wreak havoc 肆虐，对……造成严重破坏

Causes and harm of locusts

The plague(虫灾) of locusts that is invading parts of eastern Africa and Asia is the most serious in the past 20 years.According to reports, the current plague of locusts began in the area near the Red Sea and spread westward to East Africa, devouring(吞噬) crops from Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and many other countries.Eastward through Iran into South Asia, it has forced India and Pakistan, two old political enemies, to join hands in cooperation against locusts.

Green Swan“绿天鹅事件”，指气候领域可能出现的极具破坏力的现象。

after heavy rains 暴雨过后

It is reported that this plague of locusts may be a “Green Swan”.“Locusts are ravaging East Africa, and climate change may be the culprit (祸首)”——National Geographicwebsite recently quoted experts as saying that the insects that caused the disaster are called “desert locusts”, which are usually bredafter heavy rainsand “thrive” in arid(干旱的) environments in Africa and the Middle East.The long wet weather is the main culprit.The research of the locust observation project of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization shows that the cause of this plague of locusts canbe traced back toas early as 2018, when the rainfall in Arabian Peninsula increased.The increase in rain has provided favorable conditions for locust reproduction.The locust swarms entered East Africain the following yearand South Asia in the east through Iran, and have gradually developed to this day.The report said that the average life span of “desert locusts” is 3 months.After the adults lay eggs, they hatch into a new generation of locusts under appropriate conditions, and their reproductive capacity can reach 20 times that of the previous generation.The FAO expert Cressman told theNational Geographicwebsite that the worst plague of locusts may not have arrived yet, and he was worried that by June the number of “desert locusts” would “increase 400 times” from the current level.

be traced back to 追溯到……

in the following year 在接下来的一年中

Experts warned that if not controlled, the number of locusts could increase 500 times by then.They have eaten up thousands of acres of crops.Each square kilometer of farmland canhold up to150 million locusts, and an ordinary population can destroy the rations of up to 2,500 people every day.There is a particularly large population in eastern Kenya, 37 miles long and 25 miles wide, about the same size as New York Island.Before the disasterbroke out,nearly 20 million people in East Africa were facing serious food safety problems due to the long-term threat of periodic drying and floods.

hold up to 容纳多达

break out 爆发

Influence of locust disaster on China

Sharma, an Indian agricultural expert, told theGlobal Timesreporter that the plague of locustshad a great impact onthe agricultural production and economy in India.If it cannot be effectively controlled, it may further affect Bangladesh and other countries, but locustsare unlikely to cross the borderinto China.He said, considering the terrain conditions along the Sino-Indian and Sino-Pakistani borders, the possibility of locusts migrating into China via India and Pakistan is very small, and the locusts raging in India and Pakistan are “desert locusts” and China is not the traditional distribution area of the species.

have a great impact on对……有巨大影响

are unlikely to cross the border 不可能跨越边界

be highly unlikely to 很不可能做某事

lead to disasters 导致灾难

Zhang Zehua, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an interview with the media on the 17th that the border areas of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region with Pakistan, India, Nepal and other countries are areas where “desert locusts” spread.Due to the barrier of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,“desert locusts”are highly unlikely tomigrate directly to inland areas of China.He said that there are more than 1,000 kinds of locusts in China, including more than 50 kinds of locusts that maylead to disasters, but China has formed a mature locust disaster prevention mechanism, established a national four-level locust monitoring and early warning system, and a green and sustainable locust prevention and control technology system.However, he also said that if the plague of overseas locusts continues to rage, the possibility of locusts entering China in summer will increase dramatically.He suggested that the government coordinate(协调) the prevention work in various regions, carry out real-time monitoring, and prepare sufficient drugs and pesticide spraying equipment.

How to kill locusts in China

Scientists said that the locusts kept flying, but theyhad no choice but to doso because if they flew slowly, they would be eaten by the locusts behind them.Desert locusts only like arid and semi-arid areas.Tibet’s Qinghai-Tibet alpine region and Yunguichuan’s subtropical hills and plateausare not suitable fordesert locusts.This is because in these places locusts not only cannot find suitable food, but also are more likely to be killed by the weather and natural enemies.

have no choice but to do别无选择只能做……

be not suitable for对……不适合

According to statistics fromChina’s History of Relieving Famine, locust epidemic in Qin and Han Dynasties occurred every 8.8 years on average, 3.5 years in North and South Song Dynasties, 1.6 years in Yuan Dynasty, and 2.8 years in Ming and Qing Dynasties.The scope and degree of disaster are among the highest in the world.Therefore, wehave very rich experience inlocust control.

have very rich experience in 在……方面有丰富经验

More importantly, after 10 years of founding the People’s Republic of China, we finally achieved the basic extinction of locust plague in 1960.In the past 80 years, we have not seen a large plague of locusts.In Xinjiang, we attracted pink starlings(红椋鸟) to migrate here by piling up stone nests and building brick-concrete nests.In April 2019, there was a plague of locusts in Xinjiang, and tens of thousands of pink starlings ate them.A pink starling can eat 120 locusts a day!

At the same time, Xinjiang also produces a large number of ducks and chickens.Reports in 2001 showed that there were 700,000 locustkilling chickens and ducks in Xinjiang.In order to eliminate locusts, Zhejiang province once transported 100,000 ducks by air to Xinjiang totake part in the battle against locusts.They are all great heroes of “fighting locusts and rescuing people”!

take part in the battle against locusts参加灭蝗战斗

It is said that ducksare very disciplined inthe process of exterminating locusts.They set out at dawn every day and voluntarily split into several columns.They did not return home until the sun went down.Of course, if chickens, ducks and pink starlings cannot eat them, we will have to use the big killer, plant protection plane.In Xinjiang, China has about 5,000 plant protectionunmanned aerial vehicles,and a considerable number of manned low-altitude aircrafts are used for plant protection.Dajiang T16 Plant Protection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has the fastest speed of 150 mu/hour, and can finish spraying 30-40 mu of land in one hour.As long as the method is effective and the target is clear, hundreds of square kilometers of locusts will be killed in minutes!

be very disciplined in 在……方面非常自律

unmanned aerial vehicles 无人机