VoxDev 55d ago

New research quantifies how China's mass campaign to eradicate sparrows during the Great Leap Forward disrupted natural pest control, reduced crop yields, and contributed to millions of deaths during the Great Famine. China's Great Famine of 1959–1961 is the deadliest in recorded history, claiming an estimated 30 to 40 million lives. In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Shaoda Wang discusses new research examining one underexplored contributor to that catastrophe: the mass extermination of sparrows under Mao Zedong's Four Pests campaign. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/agriculture/four-pests-campaign-and-chinas-great-famine