The outlook for major crop diseases and pests in 2024 is expected to remain severe.

Release Date:

2023-12-21

Recently, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center convened a consultation meeting in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to discuss the 2024 national trends in the occurrence of major crop diseases and pests. The meeting reviewed and shared insights into the characteristics of major crop disease and pest outbreaks in 2023 and the effectiveness of forecasting and reporting efforts, analyzed and deliberated on the 2024 outlook, and outlined key priorities for monitoring and early warning.

Experts from the Institute of Plant Protection and the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, the National Meteorological Center, and other institutions delivered specialized presentations on topics including the occurrence patterns of tomato leafminer, cowpea thrips, soybean root rot, and wheat stripe rust; monitoring and survey techniques; and climate trend forecasting. Participants also toured the progress of Zhejiang’s digital “Three Rural Issues” big data platform and engaged in discussions on the operation and management of national crop pest and disease monitoring stations, as well as advances in the research and application of intelligent monitoring equipment and digital precision monitoring and early-warning technologies.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of pre-winter pest and disease populations, host crops, meteorological conditions, and other influencing factors, the expert consultation panel forecasts that the outlook for major crop pests and diseases in 2024 will remain severe. Specifically, there is a pronounced risk of large-scale, recurrent outbreaks of migratory and epidemic pests and diseases, including wheat scab and stem base rot; maize southern rust, fall armyworm, cotton bollworm, and beet armyworm; rice “two‑migration” pests, rice stem borer, and sheath blight; as well as vegetable thrips, tomato leafminer, and soybean root rot.

All localities must fully recognize the new circumstances, requirements, and tasks facing pest and disease monitoring and forecasting work. In support of the implementation of the new round of initiatives to boost grain production capacity by 100 billion jin, to enhance soybean and oilseed production capacity, and to promote green, high-quality development, while continuing to fulfill their statutory duties of timely, efficient, and high‑quality monitoring and early warning for major crop pests and diseases, they should strengthen technical reserves for newly emerging pest and disease categories, further advance the deployment and construction of field monitoring stations, ensure seamless integration and functional upgrades of digital monitoring and early‑warning platforms, and carry out pilot demonstrations and effective application of intelligent monitoring and early‑warning equipment. By doing so, they will further fortify and refine the monitoring and early‑warning network, enhance end‑point detection capabilities, and steadily move toward the smart monitoring and forecasting goal of “integrated monitoring, coordinated dispatching, and unified command through a single map,” thereby making new and greater contributions to firmly laying the foundation for abundant agricultural yields across the board.

Source: National Agricultural Technology Extension

Tags:

Summing up 2023 and looking ahead to 2024: While China’s agrochemical market continues to grow steadily, uncertainties are on the rise...

Accelerate phase-outs and strictly prohibit new additions! A total of 62,000 enterprises have been shut down or relocated, and over 1,000 enterprises along the river have been moved.

More information

The National Agricultural Technology Center has issued guidelines on “one spray, three protections” for wheat to address the heightened risk of recurrent outbreaks of Fusarium head blight, stripe rust, and aphids.

2026-04-10

The petrochemical and chemical industries comprise more than 27,000 large-scale production enterprises—efforts to upgrade and retrofit aging facilities are being further intensified.

2026-04-06

In 2026, corn borer, cotton bollworm, and ear rot—among other corn pests and diseases—are expected to occur at a relatively severe level. The National Agricultural Technology Center has issued a control plan!

2026-04-02

Address: