According to Chairman of the district People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Tu, the locusts, or more commonly known as grasshoppers, have fled from Laos to the commune’s Na Vac and Pa Kach villages. 

Local people have used various measures to eliminate them but the locust population continues growing, he added. 

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has provided plant protection drugs, chemicals and materials for the affected areas and sent technicians to guide locals to spray chemicals to kill locusts. 

Complicated mountainous terrain is hindering efforts to prevent the spread of grasshoppers, which are likely to attack other border communes such as Nam Lanh, Muong Va and Muong Cai.