Inner Mongolia in northern China is mobilizing 33,000 people, including 1,100 technical staff, to wipe out a plague of locusts, Gao Wenyuan, the regional Grassland Work Office's director, said yesterday.

Five regional specialized teams had been sent to the affected areas to help.

The region's three areas close to Beijing have 1.3 million hectares of grassland suffering locust plague, with 560,000 hectares severely hit. "The first generation locusts this year in the areas have already hatched," Gao said. "The harm they cause is obvious."

Locusts have been afflicting large swathes of grassland every year in Inner Mongolia, which has about 78 million hectares, or one-fifth of the country's total. In August, the grassland region will encounter a peak of second generation locusts.

The regional government has set up a temporary coordination team for the prevention of locusts in the areas.

A special fund of 4 million yuan (US$570,000) for pesticides and large spraying machinery has been allocated to the plagued areas, said Gao.

The region has prepared 200 tonnes of pest control chemicals, more than 100,000 big and small sprayers and booked four planes for locust eradication. Three locust control teams have been organized in the Xilingol, Ulanqab and Chifeng areas of central and eastern Inner Mongolia.

Bao Xiang, director of the Xilingol League grassland work station, said the league's locust-plagued grasslands increased by 200,000 hectares in 10 days to 530,000 hectares on June 25 with nearly half severely affected.

Herdsmen have also joined the operation. Siqin, a Mongolian living in the south of Xilingol, said each of the 50-odd chickens she raised could eat more than 100 locusts a day. "The chickens not only produce eggs, but also serve in locust control," she said.

Like Siqin, many herdsmen in the region raise chickens or ducks partly to help eradicate locusts.

(Shanghai Daily July 2, 2008)