Locust invasions are common in summer and autumn, experts said, with this summer's outburst under control in many places. The next outbreak is expected in September or October.

The bugs can be killed with normal insecticides.

The pesky insects are native locusts far less destructive than the migratory ones, said Lei Zongren, a researcher with the Institute of Plant Protection under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

As a precaution, Beijing has set up nine observation posts to spot signs of a plague.

But Wu Jichuan, a Chinese Academy of Sciences researcher, told the Beijing Morning Post that Beijing's locusts might have migrated from Hebei and Shandong provinces, both of which suffered locust plagues in recent months.

There are many kinds of locusts, but the migratory locusts can cause great losses to plants and crops, experts said.

Those locusts always fly in large groups and move quickly from place to place over distances as great as 1,000 kilometers.

An agricultural official in charge of locust control in Hebei Province said that 200,000 hectares of crops were hit by the insects since the spring but that the bugs had been eradicated by the end of June.

Grain output in the province suffered limited losses, however, officials said.

Agriculture experts blame the insect outbreak on the recent heat and wind direction.

Senior Ministry of Agriculture officials had said 2002 could be a "serious year" for locusts after years of drought in some areas and degradation of the environment.

Many places across the country, especially in the dry north, have reported plagues.

The "oriental grasshopper" destroyed 215,300 hectares of crops in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and 29 million hectares of wasteland in North China in June, but there was no apparent damage to farmland, People's Daily reported.

China has allocated 27 million yuan (US$3.3 million) to ward off the locusts and will invest an additional 40 million yuan (US$5 million), the report said.

(China Daily July 16, 2002)