Ministry of Agriculture Deploys Work on Defending Against Late Spring Cold and Flood Disasters

    Currently, wheat is at the critical stage of jointing and booting, rapeseed is podding, and early rice is being raised as seedlings and transplanted. Since April, varying degrees of frost damage and waterlogging have occurred in some areas. According to forecasts from the Central Meteorological Observatory, most northern regions will still experience temperature drops in mid-to-late April, while most southern regions will experience heavy rainfall. On April 13, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice, urgently deploying work on defending against “late spring cold” and flood disasters, requiring all localities to attach great importance, make early arrangements, respond effectively, and make every effort to ensure the safety of agricultural production, so as to gain the initiative for achieving a bumper grain and agricultural harvest for the whole year.

1. Effectively strengthen organizational leadership. On the high base of “eleven consecutive increases” in grain output, the task of defending the high level is extremely arduous. All localities must remain unwavering in the goal of stabilizing grain and increasing income, base themselves on fighting disasters to secure a bumper harvest, consciously take disaster prevention and reduction as an important task in current agricultural production, make scientific judgments, strengthen guidance, deploy early, and ensure that responsibilities are in place, materials are in place, and technology is in place. They must make every effort to do a good job in defending against “late spring cold” and flood disasters, ensure the smooth progress of spring plowing production, strive for a good harvest of summer grain and oil crops, and lay a solid foundation for the stable development of grain production for the whole year.

2. Implement defensive measures early. Strengthen communication and consultation with meteorological departments, closely monitor major weather changes, and in response to the effects of temperature drops and rainfall weather, organize experts to formulate and improve targeted technical plans for frost prevention and cold resistance and for waterlogging prevention and field management according to weather changes and crop production progress. Strengthen classified guidance and implement key technologies for cold resistance and frost prevention and for waterlogging prevention. In northern winter wheat areas, measures should be taken promptly to increase temperature and preserve soil moisture. Wheat fields with insufficient soil moisture should be watered promptly, and according to the leaf color of wheat in the fields, nitrogen fertilizer should be applied as topdressing or foliar fertilizer and plant growth regulators should be sprayed to promote the frozen wheat to restore normal growth and development. At the same time, in conjunction with implementing the subsidy policy for wheat “one spray and three preventions,” carry out foliar fertilizer spraying to increase grain number, boost grain weight, and raise per-unit yield. In southern rice areas, seedling field management should be strengthened to prevent seed rot and seedling rot caused by low temperature, overcast rain, and insufficient light. In waterlogged fields, the three ditches should be cleared promptly, drainage should be carried out immediately, waterlogging damage should be eliminated, and healthy root growth should be ensured.

3. Make every effort to prevent and control pests and diseases. Last year's warm winter led to a relatively high overwintering base of pests and diseases. Recently, rainfall has been frequent in the Huang-Huai-Hai and middle and lower Yangtze River regions, and field humidity is relatively high, increasing the risk of wheat scab epidemics. Wheat stripe rust has spread rapidly in some areas, and wheat aphids during the heading stage are also showing a major outbreak trend in the main producing areas of the Huang-Huai-Hai region. All localities should strengthen monitoring and early warning, release pest and disease information promptly, and vigorously carry out unified prevention and control. In heavily affected areas, joint prevention and control and mass prevention and mass control should be carried out, emergency control should be implemented at the appropriate time, and pest and disease outbreaks and epidemics should be curbed, so as to achieve “seizing grain from the mouths of pests.”

4. Do a solid job in technical services. Strengthen emergency duty and disaster situation scheduling, and report disaster situations promptly. Organize experts and agricultural technicians to go deep into the fields to investigate disaster conditions, seedling conditions, soil moisture conditions, and pest and disease conditions, refine technical plans, carry out roving technical guidance, and help farmers implement field management measures according to the time, soil moisture, and seedlings, truly ensuring that services reach households and measures reach fields. Make full use of radio, television, newspapers, mobile phones, the internet, and other media to publicize measures for preventing low-temperature frost damage and waterlogging. Give play to the role of demonstration plots for high-yield creation and green yield increase model research, take the lead in implementing disaster prevention and reduction measures, and demonstrate and drive the implementation of disaster reduction technical measures.