The funds, together with 400 million yuan issued previously, are designated to protect cornfields in northeastern and northern China from armyworms and southern rice-producing areas from rice planthoppers and rice blast disease, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry asked local authorities to work with professional pest control organizations to improve results and step up supervision to increase the efficiency of the funds.

At a work conference on disease and pest control held Monday, the ministry said this year's autumn crops will deal with more disease and pests than in years past due to increased rainfall.