Agricultural Catastrophe: China’s Great Sparrow Campaign

The Great Sparrow Campaign was a campaign in China in the late 1950s to eliminate sparrows. It was part of Mao Zedong’s Four Pests Campaign, which also targeted rats, mosquitoes, and flies. Mao believed that sparrows were pests that ate grain and spread disease.

The campaign was very successful in killing sparrows. However, it soon became clear that sparrows were also important predators of insects. Without sparrows, the insect population exploded, and crop yields decreased.

The Great Sparrow Campaign was a major disaster for China. It is estimated that the marketing campaign triggered hundreds of hundreds of thousands of deaths. The marketing campaign also had a devastating effect on the environment and the Chinese financial system.

Why Sparrows Are Farmers’ Friends | Great Sparrow Campaign

Sparrows are regularly seen as pests, but they may be truly very useful to farmers. Sparrows devour bugs that harm plants, inclusive of aphids, caterpillars, and beetles. They also spread pollen, which helps plants to reproduce.

Here are some of the ways that sparrows help farmers:

• Pest control: Sparrows eat a wide variety of insects, including many that are harmful to crops. For example, a single sparrow can eat up to 500 aphids per day.
• Pollination: Sparrows help to pollinate plants by carrying pollen from one flower to another. This helps plants to reproduce and produce more food.
• Seed dispersal: Sparrows also help to disperse seeds. When sparrows eat seeds and then fly to a new location, they may drop the seeds on the ground. This helps to spread plants to new areas.

Sparrows are also very easy to attract to farms. Farmers can offer sparrows with food and safe haven by way of planting timber and shrubs, and by using putting out chicken feeders.

Here are some tips for attracting sparrows to your farm:

• Plant trees and shrubs: Sparrows like to nest in trees and shrubs. Planting bushes and shrubs around your farm will offer sparrows with a place to live and raise their young.
• Put out bird feeders: Sparrows can be fed a variety of seeds, including millet, sunflower seeds, and cracked corn. Putting out hen feeders will provide sparrows with a supply of food and assist to attract them on your farm.
• Provide water: Sparrows need water to drink and to bathe in. Providing a source of water, such as a birdbath or a shallow dish of water, will help to attract sparrows to your farm.

Sparrows are valuable allies to farmers. By attracting sparrows to your farm, you could assist to protect your plants and growth your yields.