Agriculture minister urges more pest control efforts

Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said on Tuesday that authorities at all levels should strengthen surveillance and prevention capacity for the fight against pest outbreaks to ensure a bumper harvest this autumn.

He said local agricultural departments should follow the accountability system for pest control and ensure the effective use of financial and technological input.

Meanwhile, the authorities should increase monitoring frequency, publicize pest and disease information in a timely manner and support joint prevention and control among key regions, he added.

The recent outbreak of armyworms in major grain producing regions in northern and northeastern China has posed a severe threat to the production of corn and rice in the country.

To date, at least 2 million hectares of autumn crops nationwide have been affected by the outbreaks in Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Shanxi provinces, as well as in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.