Good news! BNSD's "Supporting Spring Plowing, An Auspicious Start" campaign is now in preparation — stay tuned for details.
The campaign follows the release by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the Action Plan for the "Two Increases, Two Reductions" Campaign to Secure Grain from Pests (Nong Ban Nong [2022] No. 1), issued on January 30, 2022. The plan directs provincial authorities to raise the coverage of unified pest control and green prevention while reducing crop losses from pests and diseases and cutting chemical pesticide use, and calls for localized implementation plans, clear targets and strong local accountability.
According to the national crop pest forecasting network and expert consultations, major pests and diseases on wheat, rice, maize and potato are expected to occur heavily in 2022, with a national occurrence area of 2.14 billion mu-times, up 13.5% on 2021 and 10.7% on the five-year average, threatening more than 70% of producing areas.
Wheat's "three diseases and one pest" (head blight, stripe rust, sharp eyespot and aphids) are forecast at 450 million mu-times; rice's "three pests and two diseases" (planthoppers, leafrollers, striped stem borers, sheath blight and blast) at 1.03 billion mu-times; and maize's "three pests and two diseases" (fall armyworm, armyworm, corn borer, leaf spots and southern rust) at 590 million mu-times. Potato late blight, meadow moth and the oriental migratory locust also require close attention.
The plan targets keeping overall pest-related losses below 5%. Unified professional control will cover 500 million mu-times across the three staple cereals, raising coverage by 1 percentage point, while green control expands by 100 million mu, raising coverage by 4 percentage points.
Pest losses in unified-control areas are to fall by 1 percentage point, recovering 2 to 3 billion jin of grain, and national chemical pesticide use is to be cut by 1 percentage point, or 2,500 tonnes.
Three priority tasks support these targets: stronger regional joint monitoring, with weekly reporting of wheat pests from March to June, fall armyworm from April to September, rice pests from June to September and locusts from June to August, plus same-day reporting of new outbreaks; expanded unified control, with 250 million mu-times on wheat diseases, 200 million mu-times on rice pests and 50 million mu on maize pests, support for professional control organizations servicing over 10,000 mu each, and construction of "top 100 counties" where unified control covers more than 50%; and green control "double hundred" construction of 100 full-coverage counties with green control above 60% and 100 demonstration bases, alongside the three-year campaign on prohibited pesticides and residue control in cowpeas, chives and celery.
MARA asked provinces to submit detailed implementation plans by the end of February, hold mobilization meetings in mid-March, early April and late July, convene pest trend consultations through the season, and dispatch working groups to guide field control from mid-March to mid-May and from mid-August to mid-October.
Source: MARA website.