To Fight Insect Plague, China May Dispatch a Quack Army of Locust Fighters
As featured on Friday Good Stuff with Pat, Tom and Cody. Brought to you by Roseville Meat Company.
By kncitom on September 18, 2020
The largest swarm of locusts in over 20 years has descended upon the farming regions of Pakistan because … 2020. Millions upon millions of them. And they’re threatening the country’s very agricultural existence.
But for future such plagues, China has a possible plan, and experts say it actually might work.
In the event of a locust plague, the Chinese Government is looking at dispatching at least 100,000 ducks to the affected regions, wherever it may be. Ducks are voracious insect eaters (having 2 ducks at home, I can attest. We haven’t seen a snail or slug in our yard in 3 years). In fact, experts say a single adult duck can eat 200 locusts a day. Multiply that by 100,000, and that’s 20 million locusts a day, 140,000,000 a week.
Advantages: ducks are easy to keep together. Disadvantages: ducks need water and locusts are often more of a problem in dry regions of the earth.
Officials are still studying the feasibility but if it checks out, we might one day see countries around the globe stockpiling their own Strategic Duck Reserves, and I am 100% here for it.
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