By fair means or fowl: how Chinese herdsmen are planning to stop a locust invasion
Herdsmen in Xinjiang province are given chickens to help with pest control
Locusts heading to northern China for summer have been warned: thousands of hungry chickens are out to eat them.
About 2,200 chickens have been given to herdsmen in Wushi in the country’s northwest region of Xinjiang ahead of peak locust season in May, Yang Zong, an official with the local animal husbandry bureau, said on Monday.
While it is the first time the county will attempt to use chickens to control the pest, the system has been used previously in northern parts of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, he said.
Most of China’s north may face more serious outbreaks of locusts this summer due to a warmer winter, according to a government forecast.
A total of 1.12 million hectares (2.8 million acres) is expected to be hit, it said. Grassland around Aksu prefecture, which borders Kyrgyzstan, has been frequently hit with locusts outbreaks.