Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on August 21 that since the beginning of this year, mainland customs have intercepted the quarantine pest Oceanic rump mealybug from mangoes imported into the mainland from Taiwan. Once introduced, this pest will pose a serious threat to agricultural production and ecological security in the mainland.
In order to prevent risks at the source, the General Administration of Customs has decided to suspend the import of mangoes from Taiwan into the mainland from August 21, 2023, and has notified Taiwan through the contact channel of the Cross-Strait Cooperation Agreement on Quarantine Inspection of Agricultural Products, requiring Taiwan to further improve its phytosanitary management system. The above measures are normal biosecurity precautionary measures, scientific and reasonable, and comply with relevant laws, regulations and standards of the mainland.
This is not the first time that the import of related fruits has been suspended due to the detection of oceanic rump mealybug in fruits imported from mainland China in Taiwan.
On September 19, 2021, the General Administration of Customs issued a notice stating that mainland customs has repeatedly detected quarantine pests - oceanic rump mealybug from cherimoya and lotus fog exported to the mainland from Taiwan.
In order to prevent the risk of plant diseases, in accordance with the relevant laws, regulations and standards of the mainland, it was decided to suspend the import of cherimoya and lotus fog from Taiwan into the mainland from September 20, 2021. Since September 20, all customs have suspended the acceptance of customs declarations for cherimoya and lotus fog in Taiwan, and promptly notified the relevant enterprises in their jurisdictions of the above situation.
On June 20, 2023, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that Taitung County provided the rectification situation of some operators. On the basis of a comprehensive assessment of relevant rectification measures, the General Administration of Customs decided to resume the import of cherimoya from Taiwan from June 20, and the export of cherimoya to the mainland must come from registered packaging factories and orchards.
It is understood that in 2007, the oceanic rump mealybug was listed as a plant quarantine pest entering the country by the mainland. What kind of pest is the oceanic rump mealybug and how harmful is it?
What does the oceanic rump eatyr look like?
The body length is 2 mm, small but harmful
Oceanic rump mealybug is an invasive species, Tu Hongtao, deputy director of the Fruit Tree and Melon Plant Protection Center of the Zhengzhou Institute of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, introduced, "From the perspective of insect classification, oceanic rump mealybug belongs to insects of the same order mealybugs, and aphids are an order, all belong to relatively small insects, only about 2 mm in length, the shape is long oval, light yellow, the body segment is very obvious, the main feature is that the whole body is covered with white powder wax powder, so it is called mealybug." Its body side has 17 pairs of short wax wires, and a pair of wax wires at the end of the body is relatively long, which belongs to a kind of pest we often hear about. ”
This tiny insect, but not small, Tu Hongtao introduced, the host of the oceanic rump mealybug, mainly guava, citrus, longan, cherry, banana, grapes, mango, durian, coffee, cocoa, soybean, corn, potato, a variety of flowers and other thousands of plants, mainly adults and nymphs suck the host sap as harm, resulting in stunted plant development, its secretion of honeydew induces coal pollution disease, affecting plant photosynthesis, severe cases will lead to the whole plant withering or even death.
"Oceanic rump mealybug has a wide range of hosts, strong environmental adaptability, once invaded on the main host crops is easy to cause devastating harm, mainly because a new species invasion means that there is no corresponding natural enemy in the local area to control it, breaking the original ecological balance, pests can quickly multiply and cause serious harm." Tu Hongtao introduced.
It is understood that the oceanic rump mealybug is a pest with serious harm, is an omnivore, more than 250 kinds of hosts, in addition to tropical and temperate fruits, can also harm soybeans, corn, potatoes, ornamental flowers and other important cash crops.
Oceanic rump mealybug can also attract ants and other insects to feed symbiotically, the growth chain is difficult to control, easy to spread, known as "fruit killer". Once introduced and colonized, it will have a huge impact on the fruit industry, resulting in serious losses.
Quarantine pests, which have not yet spread widely
In the notice of the General Administration of Customs, the oceanic rump mealybug is called a "quarantine pest", what is a "quarantine pest"? Tu Hongtao explained that in general, quarantine pests refer to dangerous pests that are announced by the state in accordance with legal procedures and are prohibited from being carried in inbound and outbound goods. Most of them are alien pests that have not yet occurred in China or have occurred locally but are being controlled or eradicated.
"Quarantine pests, if they enter and survive, will cause greater harm to related industries." Tu Hongtao said, "For this type of pest, the animal and plant quarantine authorities implement strict quarantine treatment on it in accordance with the law to prevent its spread, colonization or spread. The oceanic rump mealybug falls within the scope of the above definition. ”
Oceanic rump mealybug is distributed in the tropics, Tu Hongtao introduced, "India, Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Fiji, Malaysia, Australia, Samoa, Papua, tropical Africa, etc., are the distribution of oceanic rump mealybug, the mainland mainly occurs in Taiwan, in 2008 in the Baise area of Guangxi first reported harm to guava, and then found in Guangdong, Hainan, Yunnan and other places, is listed as quarantine pests, thanks to the quarantine effect of obvious results, has not spread widely, less impact. ”
For the prevention and control of invasive species, the embargo also needs to do technical reserves
How to effectively prevent and control quarantine pests? Tu Hongtao said, "Generally speaking, quarantine pests are mainly transmitted through the logistics transportation of the host, so the invasion of quarantine pests can be effectively eliminated through the prohibition of the host in the occurrence area. At the same time, once quarantine diseases and pests are found in countries around the world, the basic measures adopted are to return or destroy, otherwise once introduced and not detected in time, it is easy to multiply and spread rapidly, causing serious harm. In fact, the embargo is actually a kind of protection for fruit-exporting areas, otherwise once discovered, it will be destroyed or returned, resulting in greater losses. ”
In its place of origin, how is the oceanic rump mealybug prevented and controlled? Tu Hongtao introduced, "In the area where the harm of oceanic rump mealybug occurs, it is mainly controlled by a combination of biological control and chemical control, and the pests of the insect have a characteristic, once the outer formation of a waxy layer of the shell, chemical control is difficult to play a role, the effect is not ideal." Therefore, it is necessary to master the prevention and control period, and chemical control in the period when the eggs have just hatched can play a better effect. Of course, it can cultivate natural enemies and form an ecological balance, making it more ideal to make it impossible to cause great harm. ”
The embargo reduces the risk of oceanic rump mealybugs invading the mainland, but at the same time, Tu Hongtao believes that more technical reserves should be made, "Our entomologists should increase research on this pest, for example, we can invent technology that kills the pest completely during storage and has no effect on the quality of the fruit, which can avoid the current situation." At the same time, it is necessary to increase research on its biology, ecology, natural enemies, prevention and control methods, make technical reserves in advance, and make timely remedial measures once a hazard occurs to reduce losses. ”
#大陆暂停台湾芒果进口, it is a security precaution ##台湾芒果, farewell! ##Suspension of imports of Taiwanese mangoes from 8.21#
Source | Nanfang+, Yangcheng Evening News, Beijing Daily