Can ducks help solve the problem of locust (蝗虫)? That is a question being asked in Southern Asia. Like the region of East Africa, the nation of Pakistan is trying to keep masses of locusts from eating the country's crops.
But while the insect invasion in Africa has been blamed on weather, experts say the one in Pakistan is a side effect of a civil war in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen. Because of that war, officials haven't been able to do enough pest control to keep Yemen's locust population from growing, so the insects obviously multiplied and made their way north east eventually landing on Pakistan.
Locusts don't directly attack people. They threaten us by eating our crops. And so many of these insects in such large numbers can destroy regional food supplies. That's why Pakistan declared (宣布) a state of emergency early this month, saying it was dealing with the highest number of locusts in more than 20 years. So what can be done about it? Some experts say pesticides are needed to kill masses of these insects, but there's another idea being considered in China. It may send ducks to Pakistan —as many as 100, 000 of them— to fight the locusts by eating them. An expert interviewed by the Bloomberg media company says one duck can eat more than 200 locusts per day, and China has reportedly used ducks to successfully solve a locust problem in the past. But not everyone is on board with this. A member of China's delegation (代表团) to Pakistan says there's not enough water in Pakistan's hot dry climate to keep the ducks going. Whatever methods are used to control locusts in Asia the situation in Africa is getting more hopeless by the day.
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