Adverse weather led earlier this year to swarms with more than 10,000 locusts per square metre (11 square feet) -- six times more than usual -- in Tianjin, south of Beijing, the ministry of agriculture said.

The ministry warned unless the insect plagues were controlled, they could could strip farmers' fields during the autumn harvest, leading to massive losses.

Severe snowstorms early this year and an unusually rainy summer have significantly increased the population of pests and the number of areas of farmland that have seen outbreaks, according to the ministry statement released late Monday.

Locusts' swarming behaviour can be a response to overcrowding, leading them eat and breed more than usual.

China is particularly concerned about the harvest because rising food prices have already pushed domestic consumer inflation to the highest level in more than 12 years.

The country is expecting to produce more than 500 million tonnes of grain this year as the world's largest producer and consumer of rice struggles to feed its population of more than 1.3 billion people.

China produced more than 501.5 million tonnes of grain last year, almost meeting the nation's annual consumption of 510 million tonnes, official data showed.

The government has increased funds allocated this year to control insect plagues to 255 million yuan (37.3 million dollars), 23 million more than the previous year, the ministry said.

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