Jiangxi reaps early rice output of 6.6b tons
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-08-24 16:02

Statistics from local agricultural departments revealed that about 4.33 million hectares of early rice had been victimized by caterpillar pest this year.

In contrast, however, 1.712 million tons of early rice has been reaped from insect-incurred rice paddies, about 1.067 million tons more than the province' early rice yield retrieved last year.

Local agricultural experts owed the increased output to joint efforts made by agrotechnicians and farmers in the anti-caterpillar battles.

Nearly 200 emergency teams, involving a total of 5,000 agrotechnicians, have been sent to the rice paddy to help farmers tackle problems with caterpillar pests, show incomplete statistics. And special courses were also offered for the spread of anti-caterpillar technical know-how in advance.

To keep local farmers informed of the latest insect development, an official insect pest alert, involving 16 issues in a year, was sent to farmers on a regular basis.

Summarizing this year's experience, many agricultural experts held that local governments should channel more money into the insect pest monitoring system. Given no money has been input since the system's establishment in 1971, numerous facilities could not function well this year, they acknowledged.

Due to high temperature in early spring and lingering dry spells in fall, caterpillars bred and multiplied fast in Jiangxi Province this year.

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