Published 09:59 IST, June 29th 2020
China slammed for petty conditional offer to help India fight locusts; 'no one trusts you'
Chinese mouthpiece Global Times said that China had the capacity to provide specialist pesticides to India to fight locusts but India needed to 'ask for it'
China's government-backed media Global Times on Monday reported that Chinese experts had the capacity to provide specialist pesticides to India to fight the locust attack in the country, but they would only provide them if the Indian side 'asked for it'. The Chinese mouthpiece also stated that India must 'create conditions' in order to receive aid from China.
India has been witnessing one of the worst locust attacks in nearly 30 years, however, the Centre and the state governments are using all measures to reign in control of the crop-destroying swarms. Recently, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a body under the UN, lauded India for its hands-on approach in tackling the menacing swarms saying that it is the only country in the world to control locust using drones.
While India has been setting up control rooms across various states coordinating operations between the Agriculture Department, Fire Department and Central team, deploying drones and vehicles to spray insecticides and pesticides, China had used ducks and chickens to fight locusts when they witnessed their worst locust plague.
Over 7 lakh ducks and chickens were sent Xinjiang to eat up the destructive swarms back in the early 2000s. China had even promised to send over 1 lakh ducks to next-door neighbour Pakistan this year, the place where these locust swarms are originating from, to tackle the affected areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab provinces.
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Updated 10:53 IST, June 29th 2020