With the progress of the urbanization and the promotion of land circulation, large-scale cultivation is in rapid development, which simultaneously brings some new problems to the control of diseases and pests, according to Insecticides China News issued by CCM in November.
At present, either land circulation or scale cultivation in most places is still in its initial stage, which has two characteristics:
Firstly, different farmers plant the same crop repeatedly in an area. Local government focuses more on policy support on land circulation than on technical support and training for farmers. This pattern of planting (plant the same crop repeatedly) brings more soil-borne pest infestation. With poor technical management and low pest control level, abuse of highly toxic pesticides becomes more severe.
Secondly, the farmland owned by a single farmer is still very small and farmers have weak purchasing power, slowing down the application process of large agricultural machinery. Thus, it is difficult to deal with outbreaks of diseases and pests.
In the promotion and implementation process of large-scale cultivation, the government, agricultural dealers and farmers should pay more attention to ecological risk factors besides the economic benefits, so that the risks can be controlled.
In late June, farmers in Hebei Province suffered a big loss in one production base repeatedly planting radish for many years. The pest caused lots of crooked holes on the surface of radishes, and after 24 hours, they began to rot. The damage rate exceeds 30%. Farmers used more pesticides, but the pest still caused serious yield losses.
According to the Mr. Lei from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the pest is striped flea beetle, whose larvae feed on the roots of cruciferous crops. It is serious in Southern China such as Guangdong, Fujian, while in northern China, it is not a major pest. The outbreak of this pest in radish this year is mainly due to the reasons as follows:
For one thing, with continuous years of planting radish repeatedly, a large number of population accumulated in radish residue around the farm. Upon investigation, the longer the radish is cultivated in the same area, the more serious damage of striped flea beetle is. Cleaning up radish residues in field and roadside is not only conducive to the environment protection but also the basic measure for controlling the pest. However, it is not easy to practice for one or two farmers.
For another, the rainy weather in late spring of this year was fertile to the propagation of striped flea beetle. Besides, during the growth of radish, farmers did not know how to control it at all and local farmers usually used little pesticides, there was no timely control for striped flea beetle, resulting in damage to larger area.
In Hebei Province, sweet potato planting area is increasing due to the land transfer contract, while the Pleonomus canaliculatus damage is becoming serious with the expansion and continuation of sweet potato planting area.
In order to maximally guarantee the normal grow and business income of sweet potato, farmers widely used highly toxic pesticides such as terbufos, aldicarb and phorate. Meanwhile, some pesticide dealers does not recommend other pesticides, they try various ways to sell pesticides which farmers want to buy.
The risk of large-scale cultivation is much greater in some cases, when farmers face pest damage; they purchase pesticides that they think are good enough. As pesticide dealers, it is necessary to help farmers solve technical problems.
In August 2012, armyworm in the corn planting area of Northeast China broke out, leading to tremendous influence on the growth of corn. Owing to the large planting area with the corn height of more than 1.5m, how to effectively spray pesticides has become an urgent problem.
Finally, spraying using aircraft and elevated sprayer quickly took control of the armyworm infestation. However, lack of access to improved spraying equipment in some field led to huge losses.
Armyworm are migratory pests, timely control should be assured as soon as strong outbreak, large-scale cultivation of corn needs quick and timely availability of pesticides for the control. The outbreak and control of armyworm in Northeast China indicated that spraying equipment and pests monitoring should match large-scale cultivation.
Development of market economy is driven by market demand, large-scale cultivation in China will inevitably push its agriculture development. Problems emerge during this process are, at the same time, the market demand opportunities. Agricultural manufacturers and distributors at all levels should closely pay attention to such opportunities to grow with the market and strengthen themselves.
This article is written by Zhao Zhanzhou, a senior agronomist from Beijing Zhongbao Lvnong High-tech Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Institute of Plant Protection (IPP) Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).
Table of contents of Insecticides China News 1311:
Lianyungang Hetian becomes third domestic company to obtain flufenoxuron TC registration
Sinochem to become new controller of Yangnong Group
Risk in using leads to uncertain future of YC
Highly toxic pesticides with restriction for use to end in China
Terbufos to completely withdraw from the Chinese market on 31 Oct. 2013
New pest control problems emerge in large-scale cultivation
Fipronil+chlorpyrifos: new pesticide to control soil pests of peanut
China's export volum of emamectin benzoate soars in H1 2013
China's export volume of acephate technical increases 12.15% in H1 2013
China's export volume of acetamiprid technical hits 1,106 tonnes in Jan.to August 2013
Eucalyptus diseases and insects happen in Guangdong
Insecticides China News, a monthly publication issued by CCM on 10th, provides the latest and influential analysis on insecticide industry. Major contents include special report, company dynamics, market dynamics, supply and demand, price analysis, policy, raw material and intermediate.
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