Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Issue early warnings and implement timely control measures to firmly curb outbreaks of pests and diseases, ensuring a bumper autumn grain harvest.

　　At present, we are in the peak flood season, which also marks a critical period for pest and disease control. According to monitoring by the National Crop Pest and Disease Forecasting Network, recent excessive rainfall combined with high temperatures and high humidity has led to a resurgence of major pests and diseases—including rice stem borers, armyworms, grass cutworms, rice blast, and potato late blight—in certain regions, posing a significant threat to the safety of autumn grain production. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has attached great importance to this issue and issued the “Notice on Strengthening Control of Major Pests and Diseases Affecting Autumn Grain Crops” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”), outlining preventive and control measures and urging all localities to promptly implement these measures, resolutely curb outbreaks and associated damage, and ensure a bountiful harvest by safeguarding crops from pest and disease threats.
　　The Notice emphasizes that agricultural authorities at all levels must elevate their political awareness, remain steadfast in pursuing the goals of stabilizing and optimizing grain production, and prioritize securing a bountiful harvest despite adverse weather conditions. They should treat pest and disease control as a key priority in current agricultural production, strengthen organizational leadership, launch broad mobilization efforts, and rigorously ensure the effective implementation of all measures. Principal leaders must personally oversee this work, while those in charge of specific areas should take the lead in command, intensify supervision and inspection, and firmly assign responsibilities at every level to maintain full operational control.
　　The Notice requires that the major crop pest and disease monitoring and forecasting network be effectively utilized, with intensified surveillance in source areas, migratory‑flight transition zones, and regions prone to recurrent outbreaks. Close attention should be paid to locust dynamics in potential breeding sites such as lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands, while scientifically assessing pest and disease trends and promptly issuing early warnings to guide farmers in timely emergency control measures, ensuring early warning and early intervention. Localities are to develop scientifically sound control plans, strengthen targeted guidance, and implement key measures. For migratory pests such as rice planthoppers and rice leafrollers, coordinated joint prevention and control efforts must be undertaken to curb explosive outbreaks; for sudden‑onset diseases and pests, community‑based collective prevention and control should be organized to stem their spread. With regard to pests like armyworms, grass cutworms, and locusts, priority should be given to the early instar and nymph stages, with concentrated, unified control in high‑density outbreak areas to prevent severe feeding damage and harm caused by migration and flight.
　　The Notice requires all localities to make full use of existing projects and funding, and through various measures such as government procurement of services and the issuance of prevention-and-control subsidies, to actively support the development of specialized pest‑control service organizations. It calls for vigorous implementation of unified prevention and control, promoting a “five‑unified” approach—unified organization and mobilization, unified technical protocols, unified supply of pesticides, unified timing of treatments, and unified application operations—to ensure effective, efficient, and cost‑effective outcomes, reduce input while enhancing output, and advance sustained progress. Pesticide Zero growth in usage. It is necessary to organize agricultural technicians and government officials to conduct mobile technical training through methods such as stationing in specific areas, assigning responsibility for designated zones, and visiting villages and households, thereby helping farmers overcome practical challenges encountered during pest and disease control.
　　It is reported that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will soon dispatch inspection teams for pest and disease control to key autumn grain-producing areas and regions where such threats have re-emerged, conducting on-site supervision and providing technical guidance to ensure the effective implementation of all preventive and control measures.

Source: News Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs