The legion of lotus-eating waterfowl will be sent from the eastern province of Zhejiang, reported a local newspaper. 

The news comes after Beijing dispatched a team of Chinese experts to Pakistan to advise on a response to the infestation that is being called the worst in 20 years.

The teams of birds are of a native breed called 'No. 1 Guoshao', which is billed as the 'locust-killing genius', the Ningbo Evening News said today.

China deployed ducks, whose natural diet includes insects, to fight a similar infestation in its northwestern region of Xinjiang two decades ago, with considerable effectiveness, the report said. 

Their use is both much less expensive and environmentally damaging than the use of pesticides, the paper quoted Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Agricultural Technology researcher Lu Lizhi as saying.

Ducks are also more suited to the task than other poultry, such as chickens, Lu said.

'Ducks like to stay in a group, so they're easier to manage than chickens,' he said. A duck is also capable of eating more than 200 locusts per day, compared to just 70 for a chicken, Lu said.