Insect plague hits Tibetan plateauMonday, 22 June 2009, 12:28 p.m.

An area of about 200 hectares in the Tibet Autonomous Region has been suffering a locust plague as a result of a continued drought. (Xinhua Photo)

Dharamshala: Continuous drought condition in the Tibet Autonomous Region has resulted in a locust plague, affecting an area about 200 hectares of the region, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported Monday, 22 June.The insect population density in the area, the region’s worst-hit, has reached 500 locusts each square meter, Xinhua quoted the Chinese National Meteorological Bureau as saying. In the previous years, aerial spraying of pesticide in forests and grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau helped in stopping the plague, the report said.A severe drought, which developed early this year, started in about 16,666 hectare of seedlings, with 30 percent of them in which got destroyed, the report added.The report also quoted the Tibet Daily as saying that an area of 26,667 hectare in Tibet’s southeastern Shannan Prefecture has been affected. Authorities in Tibet said last Saturday that the region has suffered worst drought in 30 years.Related report:Drought and desertification worsening in Tibet: Chinese state media