The National Symposium on Green Pest and Disease Control for Crops Was Held in Sichuan.

　　To discuss approaches and measures for advancing green pest and disease management in crop production and to promote high‑quality development of such practices at a new starting point, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center convened the National Symposium on Green Pest and Disease Management in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, on May 8–9. Attending and addressing the meeting were Wei Qiwen, Director of the National Agricultural Technology Extension Center; Ma Bo, Secretary of the Leshan Municipal Party Committee; and Zi Kelage, First‑Level Inspector of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. More than 50 officials—including heads of plant protection stations, section chiefs responsible for pest and disease control, and technical specialists—from 31 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps participated, while representatives from relevant strategic partner enterprises attended as observers.
　　The conference invited experts from Zhejiang University, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and other institutions to deliver thematic presentations and engage in exchanges on ecological control of crop pests and diseases, biological control, and integrated green pest management, with a particular focus on green pest and disease management for cowpea. In addition, representatives from Sichuan, Beijing, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangxi, and other provinces and autonomous regions shared exemplary experiences in green pest management. Participants also visited an on-site demonstration of green pest and disease control in Jingyan County, Leshan City, and discussed the achievements made in recent years, as well as future directions, priorities, and policy measures, thereby fostering consensus, clarifying strategic thinking, and boosting morale.
　　The meeting concluded that, in recent years, the national plant protection system has remained firmly aligned with the principles of green agricultural development, developing and promoting key technologies and products for green pest management, and piloting a wide array of practical, integrated green‑control approaches. As a result, a comprehensive set of mechanisms for advancing green pest management has taken shape. After years of concerted effort, by 2022 the area under green pest‑management practices had exceeded 1.2 billion mu, and the coverage rate of green control surpassed 50% for the first time, marking a new milestone in the field of green pest and disease management for crops.
　　The meeting called on the national plant protection system to further strengthen its sense of responsibility and commitment to firmly underpinning the foundation of grain‑production safety. In the face of new circumstances and tasks, it urged the system to clarify its strategic priorities, refine technical measures, intensify experimental demonstrations, ensure rigorous implementation at every level, and continuously advance the high‑quality development of green pest‑control practices.
　　First, strengthen policy guidance and coordinate the use of existing major funding programs for pest and disease control and disaster relief to support and promote ecological regulation, physicochemical trapping and control, and biological methods. Pesticide First, we will advance green pest‑management technologies; second, we will strengthen R&D, focusing on developing simple, practical green control methods and products that farmers can readily understand, quickly learn, and effectively apply; third, we will enhance technology integration, providing comprehensive, crop‑specific, pest‑and‑disease‑targeted, and product‑oriented solutions to large-scale growers, family farms, farmer cooperatives, and other new agricultural business entities, thereby helping produce high‑quality, premium‑priced agricultural products; fourth, we will bolster technical guidance, making full use of modern information tools to bring green control technologies into the fields and embed green management practices in production, thus raising awareness of and improving the adoption rate of these technologies; and fifth, we will innovate delivery mechanisms by establishing green‑control‑driven counties, selecting model demonstration sites, and promoting exemplary green‑control technology frameworks, thereby reinforcing institutional capacity, accelerating the dissemination and application of green pest‑management techniques, and providing robust green plant‑protection support for safeguarding food security, advancing green agricultural development, and building a strong agricultural nation.

Source: National Agricultural Technology Center; Author: Pest and Disease Control Division