To help Pakistan fight its worst locust infestation in 20 years, China is planning to deploy a 100,000-strong army of ducks.

According to the officials, the crop-munching desert locusts pose a threat to China’s food security and it is important to prevent an invasion originating from its neighboring country.

In Pakistan, the locust situation is so severe that an emergency was declared.

A senior researcher from the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lu Lizhi, said that the 100,000-strong duck army will be deployed to Pakistan.

Lu, who is in charge of the project, said that the ducks are ‘biological weapons’ as only one duck can eat up to 200 locusts per day, making them more efficient than pesticides.

“Ducks like to stay in a group so they are easier to manage than chickens,” Lu said, according to BBC. In comparison, chickens can only consume 70 locusts a day.

“They have three-times the combat capability,” he added.

A trial involving the birds is set to take place in Xinjiang province in China. If the trial is a success, the army will be deployed to worst-affected areas across Pakistan, such as Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces.

There are still no plans to send an army to Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, all of which are fighting ‘devastating’ and ‘unprecedented’ swarms of insects in the worst locust outbreak they have seen in seven decades.

A small group of locusts has also entered Congo. UN agencies have warned of a ‘major hunger threat’ in East Africa caused by the desert pests.

This is not the first time an army of ducks has been hired by the country. In 2000, a 30-000 strong army was sent to Xinjiang to fight a locust infestation.

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