Millions of sparrows were killed. While the campaign was meant to increase yields, concurrent droughts and floods as well as the lacking sparrow population decreased rice yields.The extermination of sparrows upset the ecological balance, which subsequently resulted in surging locust and insect populations that destroyed crops due to a lack of a natural predator.
With no sparrows to eat them, locustpopulations ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. Although sparrows were removed from the Four Pests in 1960, the disruption of ecological balance, combined with errors in food distribution policies and the exaggeration of crop production figures, led to the Great Chinese Famine.According to a 2025 study, the anti-sparrow campaign accounted for a nearly 20 percent drop in crop production, leading to the deaths of two million people.
Jedi-master-dragon on
Yeah, don’t kill the predator of the LARGEST pest towards rice.
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Millions of sparrows were killed. While the campaign was meant to increase yields, concurrent droughts and floods as well as the lacking sparrow population decreased rice yields.The extermination of sparrows upset the ecological balance, which subsequently resulted in surging locust and insect populations that destroyed crops due to a lack of a natural predator.
With no sparrows to eat them, locustpopulations ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. Although sparrows were removed from the Four Pests in 1960, the disruption of ecological balance, combined with errors in food distribution policies and the exaggeration of crop production figures, led to the Great Chinese Famine.According to a 2025 study, the anti-sparrow campaign accounted for a nearly 20 percent drop in crop production, leading to the deaths of two million people.
Yeah, don’t kill the predator of the LARGEST pest towards rice.