Hsinchu City Government joins hands with the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station and farmers to safeguard rice health together

Hsinchu City - To prevent rice diseases and pests, in 109 (2020) the city continued to commission the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, to carry out the rice disease and pest monitoring and investigation program. Three rice cultivation areas in Hsinchu City's Zhong'ai Village, Nan'ai Village and Gangnan Village were selected to conduct monitoring and investigation of 5 rice diseases and pests, including rice blast, bacterial leaf blight, rice leaf roller, planthoppers and rice water weevil, during the rice growing period, so as to grasp the occurrence of rice diseases and pests in Hsinchu City's jurisdiction at the earliest opportunity, join hands with farmers in joint prevention, and reduce crop losses.

Zhang Like, Director of the Hsinchu City Department of Economic Development, said that taking rice blast as an example, based on past nationwide experience, a major outbreak occurs once every 10 years on average in the first crop season. Therefore, under the principle of "be lenient in estimating the enemy, be strict in defending against the enemy," the city government commissioned a professional unit - the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station - to establish an advance monitoring and early warning system, not daring to be negligent, to ensure rice quality and stabilize farmers' income.

The Hsinchu City Department of Economic Development said that it is now the rice transplanting stage of the first crop season. From the initial transplanting to the maturation and harvest of the grains, monitoring and investigation are carried out throughout the entire period from March to December. Among these, rice blast, bacterial leaf blight, planthoppers and rice water weevil are mainly monitored by setting monitoring points and conducting visual surveys, while for the rice leaf roller, sex pheromone trap boxes are used to monitor the density of this pest at fixed times and fixed points, grasping the real-time disease and pest situation so as to respond and control in advance.

The Hsinchu City Department of Economic Development said that if affected by weather and poor field management and other factors, once diseases and pests occur they may very likely cause serious agricultural losses. Farmers are reminded to plant disease-resistant varieties, sow sparsely, plant widely, reduce nitrogen fertilizer, grasp the timing of control at all times, and not neglect control just because there has been no epidemic of diseases and pests for many years, so as to provide a high-quality growing environment for rice and jointly safeguard rice health.