Pest damage worsens in rice-producing provinces

 CHANGSHA, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Pests are posing an increasing challenge for the country's major rice-producing areas amid an important harvest year, according to agricultural officials.

The Ministry¹ of Agriculture (MOA) held a meeting on pest control with officials from the provinces of Hunan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Sichuan, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous² Region, on Monday in Changsha, capital of Hunan.

Ye Zhenqin, chief of the ministry's crop farming department, said the provinces are suffering from "unbelievably severe" pest damage.

Rice planthoppers, known as a major pest for rice, had been detected in over 260 million mu (17.33 million hectares) of rice crops as of last week, up 50 percent from the same period last year, according to the national crop pest monitoring and reporting network.

Unusual weather and the arrival of several typhoons have resulted in greater precipitation, causing the pests to reproduce in greater number, Ye said.

Pest damage now poses a threat to the mid-season and late rice crops, making pest control a critical task for securing this year's harvest, he said.

Rice is a staple³ food in China. The country produces 200 million tonnes of rice annually⁴, accounting⁵ for more than 28 percent of the world's total.

Pastoral Agricultural Integrated Services (PAIS), a company based in Hunan's city of Yueyang, has made significant efforts to reduce pest damage in the province.

"We have to keep working," said company chairman Zhong Ying.

More than 1,300 companies like PAIS had provided pest control services and other aid to more than 5.7 million farming households in the province as of the end of July.

This year's summer grain output, which includes wheat and early rice, reached 129.95 million tonnes, up 2.8 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Government data showed that China's grain output rose to a record high of 571.21 million tonnes in 2011, marking the eighth consecutive⁶ year of growth for the country's grain output.

Last week, the Ministry of Finance and the MOA allocated⁷ an additional 200 million yuan (31.75 million U.S. dollars) in subsidies⁸ to assist in pest control efforts. The funds, together with 400 million yuan issued previously⁹, are designated to protect cornfields in northeastern and northern China from armyworms and southern rice-producing areas from rice planthoppers and rice blast disease.

"China is aiming for a ninth consecutive year of grain output growth. We won't give up on reaching the target just because of our pest problem," Ye said.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

3 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

4 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

8 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。