Another kind of biological invader burst into China: with its super-strong flying ability, it easily rushed through the layers of defenses at border crossings.
This is a pest originating in the Americas, the meadow moth. After its spread in the Americas, it quickly spread to Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia; in January this year, it first appeared in China's Yunnan Province, and then quickly spread to several southern provinces. Because the pest is extremely harmful, it may even lead to the destruction of crops and harvests.
As of 13 May, 13 provinces (municipalities, districts) in China had been affected by insect pests. To this end, the agricultural sector attaches great importance to it, requires encrypted monitoring and early warning, makes every effort to do a good job in prevention and control response, and strives to achieve a bumper harvest of "insects and grain".
The meadow moth, commonly known as the autumn armyworm, is an omnivorous pest native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The pest has a large amount of food, mainly harming corn, rice, sugarcane, tobacco and other grass plants, and has strong fecundity and strong flight ability. Because it is a predatory pest, fighting in groups, it can nibble a cornfield a day, and after chewing, it is also known as the "Fall Armyworm".
Lin Guofa, research director of Brick Agricultural Products Collection network, told the first financial reporter that the grassland night moth, as a new biological invasion, has now appeared in the southwest region, and will not eventually evolve into an African swine fever epidemic similar to the breeding industry, which will have a significant impact on the industry and need to be tracked continuously.
The possible path of the "Autumn Marching Worm" into China
Native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, the grassland moth, with mixed diet, strong reproductive ability, rapid migration and spread, is a major migratory pest of corn, and the damage at the seedling stage of corn can generally reduce yield by 10%-25%, and serious damage to the field can cause the destruction of seeds and harvests.
Subsequently, the pest gradually spread to Mexico, the United States and Canada. According to statistics, Brazil's annual prevention and control costs reach more than 600 million US dollars.
In January 2016, the grassland moth was first detected in Africa; on April 28, 2017, 12 African countries officially reported the invasion of this pest; and in January 2018, the grassland moth has invaded almost all 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to statistics, in 2018, the pest brought 2 billion to 3 billion US dollars of harm to African agricultural production.
In May 2018, the Meadow Moth invaded India and spread throughout India for three months. By August, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was issuing a global alert. Subsequently, in late November, incursions into Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In mid-December, it invaded Burma again.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in January this year, the invasion hazard of the grassland night moth was found for the first time in Yunnan Province, China.
On May 6, the official website of the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center released an announcement showing that at present, southwest China, South China, Jiangnan and other places have entered the spring corn sowing and growth period, which is suitable for the grassland night moth to feed as a pest. In May, with the deepening of the investigation, new grassland moths will be found in the southwest, south China and Jiangnan regions. With the southwest monsoon, from mid-May onwards, adult insects can further migrate and expand to the Yangtze River and Jianghuai River basins in China; from June to July, they can continue to move north to Huanghuai, North China and even Northeast and Northwest China, and the insect situation is in danger of spreading.
On May 13, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Sichuan Province held an on-site training meeting on the emergency prevention and control of grassland night moths in the province, clarifying that grassland night moths have been colonized in Sichuan, and announced the start of emergency work to comprehensively launch the "insect mouth grain grab" campaign.
As of 13 May, 13 provinces (municipalities, districts) in China had been affected by insect pests.
There is a factual basis for the fact that the grassland moth is super capable of flying, with adults flying 100 km a night and female moths flying 500 km before laying eggs. It has been reported that adult grassland moths can migrate from Mississippi in the United States to southern Canada within 30 hours, a distance of up to 1600 kilometers. According to this calculation, under favorable conditions such as wind direction and wind speed, its average speed is as high as 53 kilometers per hour, which is faster if calculated according to the proportion of body size, and the ability to fly and migrate is very amazing.
Despite this, the Americas and other continents are separated by vast oceans that moths are difficult to fly.
According to this, the industry speculates that the spread of the grassland moth in other areas is most likely transmitted through the spread of the commodity containing the inactivated grassland moth or its eggs in international trade. Since its infestation into southwestern Yunnan, China on 11 January, the pest is currently on a growing trend in the south. If it enters central and northern China in the later stage, it will have a serious impact on China's grain production.
Lin Guofa said that from the perspective of the path of the grassland night moth, the probability of the insect entering the country through Myanmar is large, but it is not excluded that the domestic import of grain from South America contains the inactivated grassland night moth or its eggs, which eventually leads to the emergence of the grassland night moth in China.
He believes that in international agricultural trade, all countries have corresponding inspection and quarantine regulations, mainly because they are worried about the invasion of alien species. Because invasive species lack natural enemies, it is easy to have serious biological disasters in the country.
Industry insider Jin Chenglin (pseudonym) told the first financial reporter that both possibilities exist. However, from the initial detection of the pest in Yunnan, it can be speculated that it was probably introduced from the pests of India and Myanmar, "because if it is imported from trade, it should have spread in the two Guangzhou areas first, not Yunnan." ”
Therefore, he believes that while strengthening the control of grassland moth in China, it is also necessary to strengthen inspection and quarantine of imported agricultural products from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Global joint control of the "Autumn Marching Bug" is needed
In March this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "2019 Grassland Nightcrawler Prevention and Control Technology Plan (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which requires strengthening monitoring and early warning, focusing on prevention and control in different areas, making emergency prevention and control preparations, and ensuring early detection and early control.
The "Plan" puts forward the overall goal: the prevention and disposal rate reaches more than 90%, the proportion of green prevention and control technology application reaches more than 30%, the comprehensive prevention and control effect reaches more than 85%, and the hazard loss rate is controlled within 8%. Corresponding prevention and control monitoring measures have been introduced to different areas, and the Yunnan invasion area adheres to the guiding ideology of ecological prevention and control and strengthens prevention and control. The southern maize area should do a good job in dynamic monitoring and control of pest populations, reduce the base of insect sources migrating to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the north, strengthen monitoring in the main production areas of Huanghuaihai and Northeast China, and make emergency prevention and control preparations.
The "Plan" also mentions that the use of physical and chemical booby-traps to control the number of adult insect populations, seize the critical period of control of young larvae, strengthen the census, and pay attention to regional joint prevention and unified prevention and control.
Lin Guofa believes that at present, the insect pest is mainly concentrated in the southwest region, due to the prominent biodiversity of the southwest region, it can give play to the natural control advantages of biodiversity, form an ecological interception zone, and the impact of insect pests is relatively small. However, due to the super ability to fly and have a strong reproductive ability, if it spreads to central China, north China and even northeast China, it will have a significant impact on China's grain production.
His reasoning was that in central China, north China and northeast China, crop cultivation was relatively single, lack of biological predators, coupled with the characteristics of the plain, it was easy to form a tailwind, which would increase the spread rate of the grassland night moth. In addition, North China and Northeast China are important corn-producing areas in China, accounting for about 90% of China's corn production, and central and northeastern China are the main rice-producing areas in China, if insect pests spread to central China, north China and northeast China, it will undoubtedly threaten grain production.
He mentioned to the first financial reporter that for areas where the pest has not occurred, a census and monitoring should be done. For areas that have already occurred, two methods of biological control and emergency control can be adopted. For example, from the perspective of biological control, in the early stage of egg hatching, insecticides and biopesticides are sprayed. If it is an emergency control, it can be controlled by an efficient and low-toxic insecticide spray for the control of pests of the nocturnal family.
In addition, you can also refer to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) guidance manual for the prevention and control of grassland nocturnal moth and foreign registration of pesticides, early application of polybactericides and Bt and other biological pesticides, severe application of methylphenidate, chlorantranilipine, acetamidine, ethyl polymycin and other agents for control, low the base of insect sources, curb the spread of insect pests.
Jin Chenglin suggested that in China, it is necessary to strengthen inter-provincial monitoring and coordination, and use big data and the Internet of Things, as well as satellite monitoring systems, to timely and accurately monitor and forecast the spread of the insect pest.
In addition, pay attention to following the steps, not using pesticides on the way up. Medicine is necessary, but the previous measures, such as in the border area of pest and disease areas and non-pest areas, the use of black light traps, hormone traps and other integrated control measures to prevent the spread of the pest - booby trap is the most environmentally friendly and effective measure, chemical prevention and control is the last line of defense.
He believes that the current global food prices have fallen, and the decline in rice, corn and wheat prices will adversely affect the sowing of rice, northern hemisphere corn and spring wheat in Asia, and is likely to lead to a decline in global sown area. However, at the same time, the global price of fertilizer and diesel has risen significantly, which is estimated to increase the production cost of food crops by 15%-20%. Considering the global ravages of the "autumn marching insect", it is likely to further increase the cost of global food, affect global food production, and thus have a negative impact on the global food supply in 2019/2020.
In this context, global joint control of the "autumn marching insect" is very necessary. Internationally, in the face of the rapid spread of the "autumn marching insect" around the world and the possible serious harm, he suggested that the governments of many countries such as China, the United States, India and other countries and international organizations should actively respond to protect global agricultural production and stable global food supply.
Judging from the domestic situation, the price index of agricultural products and industrial products has shown an upward momentum, the price of non-grain crops has risen significantly, the price of grain has dropped sharply, and farmers have chosen more production of non-grain crops and reduced the production of rice and corn, which will affect the production of corn and rice in the new year, which may lead to an increase in grain prices in the later period. In terms of animal husbandry production, the large-scale epidemic of African swine fever in the country has also brought serious negative impacts to the breeding industry.
Jin Chenglin believes that in the face of the internal and external environment, animal husbandry should strengthen the prevention and control of the African swine fever epidemic, and the planting industry should strengthen the prevention and control of "autumn marching insects", and only by stabilizing the productivity of planting and animal husbandry can we provide a solid foundation for economic and social stability.