One quarter of farmland hit by pest
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-17 20:00

Rice, the main staple for the majority of China's 1.3 billion people, is under threat with one quarter of the nation's farmland hit by pests and diseases this year, AFP cited the Xinhua news agency reported.

The situation is so serious that Agriculture Ministry officials have organized a meeting calling for extraordinary measures to be taken, the Xinhua news agency said.

A total of 31.3 million hectares of rice fields, or 24 percent of the nation's entire cultivated area, had been hit by plagues and disease as of last month, according to the agency.

The affected fields are concentrated in 13 major rice production areas in the fertile south of the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture had earlier warned that some two million hectares of farmland and 25 million hectares of grassland would be attacked by locusts this year.

To deal with the challenge, the ministry has called for local governments to strengthen prevention and treatment measures in order to fight against rice pests and diseases, and ensure a good grain harvest in autumn.

The ministry has ordered local agriculture departments to monitor for pests and diseases, and, once they have been detected, to take resolute quarantine measures to prevent them from spreading, according to the agency.

It has also told its grassroots cadres to guide farmers in their areas to adopt the right kind of pesticides to ensure effective prevention and treatment of rice diseases.