A team of 30 air force officers equipped with two helicopters and five automobiles began on Thursday a five-day operation to eliminate locusts plaguing rural southwest China.

The helicopters sprayed four tons of diluted biological pesticide on Thursday in Ganzi and Shiqu counties in western Sichuan, which neighbors Tibet. Each helicopter sprayed 533 hectares of pastureland in one operation.

The team, from the Chengdu military section of the People's Liberation Army, will also spray in Gyanmda County, in eastern Tibet, according to an officer.

Shiqu County was hit by swarms of locusts last year, with an average density of 429 to 1,968 per square meter. About 11,000 hectares of pastureland was affected, causing a severe shortage of feed for livestock in winter.

Tubdain Rongb, a Tibetan in Luoxu Town, said the locusts had eaten almost his entire crop and pasture.

"Locusts are everywhere. You can trample dozens of locusts in one step in the fields."

He said his household income would be cut by at least half this year.

Tang Chuanjiang, a grassland specialist in Sichuan Province, estimated that locusts will affect about one million hectares of pasture and crop land in Sichuan this year.

Tang predicted the air force operation, which will cover 33,000 hectares, may bring the pest under effective control.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2007)