How to quickly eliminate locusts, and is using ducks to control locusts effective?

In ancient times, locust plagues, floods, and fires were known as the three major natural disasters, and recently, while our country is fighting the epidemic, the locust plague has crossed the Red Sea into Europe and Asia, reaching Pakistan and India, which is just one step away from our country, so some areas have started using ducks to control locusts, so can ducks control locusts? How to quickly eliminate locusts?

1. Can ducks control locusts?

Ducks can control locusts. According to a June 2001 Xinhua News Agency report citing media reports from 2000, Zhejiang at that time “dispatched” 30,000 ducks by plane to Xinjiang to eat locusts.

According to the people involved, ducks have a strong ability to catch locusts and a large food intake, and are “strictly disciplined”. Deploying ducks is the most effective good method for clearing locusts in grasslands and protecting the ecology. Ducks feed twice a day. At four or five o'clock in the morning, just as the sky begins to brighten, the ducks go out on their own to eat locusts. After a few hours, they go to nearby small ditches to drink water and rest. At around 7 p.m., the ducks go out again, and they do not return until around 9 p.m., when the sun sets. A single duck can eat more than 100 locusts in one go.

2. How to quickly eliminate locusts?

Regarding locust prevention and control, the plant protection policy of giving priority to prevention and applying integrated control should be adhered to. By carrying out agricultural control in the early stage and appropriate pesticide and biological control in the later stage, the number of locusts can be effectively controlled. The specific methods are as follows:

1. For fields prone to locusts, growers are advised to carry out routine management. After planting is completed, plow the land in time so that the eggs are exposed to the air, and use low temperatures and sunlight to kill the eggs. In addition, field moisture management should be done well. In dry years, appropriate watering can inhibit the hatching and growth of locusts.

2. Carry out pesticide control well. The use of chemical pesticides is the most effective method for controlling the number of locusts. In the early stage of a locust outbreak, growers can use sprayers, drones, and other plant protection equipment to spray pesticides on areas where locusts may occur. Pesticides for controlling locusts can be selected from 10% cis-cypermethrin at 1500 times, 40% bifenthrin clothianidin at 2000 times, 6% abamectin beta-cypermethrin at 750 times, and other sprays.

3. Biological control. The use of pesticides for control easily disrupts the ecological balance, so in the past two years many people have recommended using biological control methods to control locusts. At present, the relatively mature biological control methods include:

(1) Herding chickens and ducks for control. This method is relatively maturely applied on the grasslands of northwest China. Chickens and ducks feed on locusts and can control the number of locusts. At the same time, chickens and ducks can both lay eggs and are fairly good meat, creating additional income for herders.

(2) Bird control. In the Tibet area, some pastoral areas have achieved biological control of locusts in pastoral areas by building bird nests to attract rosy starlings.

(3) Using microsporidia for control. After use, they can parasitize inside locusts, absorb the locusts' nutrients, and achieve the insect-killing effect without harming the environment.