Locusts invade Inner Mongolia

BEIJING: North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is being plagued by locusts, which is posing a serious threat to the grasslands and livelihood of herdsmen, a local official said on Tuesday.

Over nine million acres of grassland has been affected, 45 per cent of it seriously.

"It will bring about great losses to the livelihoods and production of the farmers and herdsmen in the region," Xie Bingren of the regional Department for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry said.

"It will also constitute a major threat to the ecological environment on the grassland and to the sustainable development of the animal husbandry in the region," he said.

The region had seen rainfall since the beginning of July, which has hastened the incubation of a large amount of locust eggs.

With rising temperatures and humidity, locusts are still hatching and proliferating, he said, noting that the density of locusts on the grassland in some places reached 200 per square meter.

"Each mu (0.17 acre) of grassland would lose about 25 kilograms of grass to locusts, Bingren was quoted by Xinhua.

In addition, it would be hinder regeneration of the grass next year and the year after, as the growth points of the grass had been destroyed, he said.

The regional Department for Finance has earmarked 625,000 US dollars to purchase pesticides and spraying machines to fight the locusts.

Meanwhile, the local government has ordered rofessional workers to monitor the situation and development of the pests on the grassland, Xie said.