Ministry of Agriculture Deploys Prevention and Control of Major Pests and Diseases of Autumn Grain Crops
August—September is an important period for the formation of autumn grain crop yields, and also a critical period for pest and disease prevention and control. On July 29, the Ministry of Agriculture held a national on-site meeting on the prevention and control of major pests and diseases of autumn grain crops in Shandong, proposing that this year's prevention and control of major pests and diseases of autumn grain crops should strive to keep the damage losses from major rice and corn pests and diseases within 5%, keep the damage losses from potato late blight within 5% in general outbreak areas and within 8% in severely affected areas, and achieve a specialized unified prevention and control coverage rate of more than 27%, an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year.
The meeting pointed out that this year, major pests and diseases of autumn grain crops such as rice, corn and potato are significantly more severe than last year and in normal years. At present, the rice “two migration” pests in most rice areas of the south have reached the control threshold, the number of corn borer eggs in Northeast and North China is 1.2—1.5 times that of last year, and rice blast in Northeast rice areas and late blight in major northern potato production areas are showing a trend of rapid expansion and spread. It is expected that major pests and diseases of autumn grain crops will affect 2.3 billion mu-times, an increase of 5% year-on-year. Among them, the rice “two migration” pests will break out severely in South China, Jiangnan, eastern Southwest and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River rice areas; rice blast will be moderately to severely epidemic in Northeast, Southwest, South China and parts of Jiangnan rice areas; corn borer and armyworm will occur at moderate to severe levels in the major corn production areas of Northeast and Huang-Huai-Hai; armyworm will still cause concentrated damage in some local areas; and potato late blight will be moderately to severely epidemic in parts of Northwest and North China, seriously threatening the safety of autumn grain production.
The meeting emphasized that the prevention and control of major pests and diseases of autumn grain crops is urgent and the task is heavy. Agricultural plant protection departments at all levels must fully recognize the extreme importance of doing a good job in prevention and control, firmly adhere to the goal of promoting continued grain production increases, base themselves on fighting disasters to secure a bumper harvest, act quickly, and vigorously implement measures to carry out the action of preventing diseases and controlling pests to secure a bumper harvest. They must ensure that the best control timing is not missed due to inadequate monitoring and early warning, ensure that large-scale outbreaks and disasters caused by pests and diseases do not occur due to inadequate prevention and control measures, minimize the losses caused by pests and diseases, and seize the initiative for achieving a bumper autumn grain harvest.
The meeting required that agricultural plant protection departments at all levels adhere to the principles of classified guidance and scientific prevention and control, highlight major crops, major pests and diseases, and key regions, aim to prevent diseases and control pests, ensure production and increase income, and reduce losses and increase efficiency, focus on monitoring and early warning, unified prevention and control, green prevention and control, and safe pesticide use, extensively mobilize and motivate, strengthen service guidance, implement key measures, carry out emergency prevention and control in a timely manner, vigorously promote specialized unified prevention and control, effectively improve control results, and resolutely curb outbreaks and epidemics of pests and diseases.
First, strengthen organizational leadership, implement the prevention and control mechanism of “government leadership, territorial responsibility, and joint prevention and control”, give play to the role of administrative promotion in organizing and mobilizing pest and disease prevention and control, command and coordination, and supervision and guidance, and ensure the smooth progress of prevention and control work.
Second, advance scientific prevention and control, for rice planthopper, focus on “controlling the early and suppressing the late” to strictly prevent late-season outbreaks and disasters; for rice leaf roller, strictly carry out control upon reaching the threshold, with key protection of functional leaves (the top three leaves); for rice blast and potato late blight, vigorously focus on prevention at the breaking and heading stages and flowering stage; for corn borer, while vigorously promoting light trapping and killing and releasing wasps to control borers, focus on “one prevention and double reduction” at the large trumpet stage; for armyworm, adopt a combination of investigation and control, with emphasis on unified control.
Third, strengthen unified prevention and control, give play to the advantages of specialized unified prevention and control in achieving good results and high efficiency, increase support, vigorously promote the application of high-efficiency pesticide application machinery such as self-propelled, stretcher-mounted, and aviation-based aerial operations, and focus on improving control results and the degree of organization. At the same time, give play to the ecological, environmental and safety advantages of green prevention and control, implement integrated management, and continuously improve the scientific level of disease prevention and pest control.
Fourth, strengthen supervision and guidance, establish a responsibility system of division into areas and contracted responsibility at every level, and during the critical period of prevention and control, organize capable forces to go deep into the production frontline, providing face-to-face and hands-on guidance for prevention and control work, ensuring that prevention and control measures are implemented in place and prevention and control technologies are applied in the fields.