China rice harvests in danger from insect plague
Pastor Dale Morgan
China rice harvests in danger from insect plague*
BEIJING, Aug 17 (AFP) Aug 17, 2006
Millions of tonnes of rice in central China could be lost due to a
plague of insects caused by this year's unusually severe typhoon season,
state press reported Thursday.
Hubei province is facing its worst planthopper plague in decades, with
40 percent of rice fields being hit by the small insects that can
totally destroy crops, the Xinhua news agency said.
Eastern and central China have endured eight typhoons since May, an
unusually high number, and the frequent rain and cool weather from the
storms are ideal conditions for planthoppers to breed, Xinhua cited
experts as saying.
This year's outbreak of planthoppers is much worse than the plagues of
1991, 1997 and 1998, which all caused the loss of millions of tonnes of
rice, officials said at an emergency meeting in Hebei on Wednesday.
"It is the worst outbreak I have seen since I began working in plant
protection 30 years ago," Xinhua quoted one local official, Luo
Xingrong, as telling the meeting.
The typhoons have left hundreds, if not thousands, of people dead or
missing.
The most recent typhoon, Saomai, which made landfall on Thursday last
week, has killed at least 319 people, according to official figures.
Typhoon Prapiroon, which made landfall on August 3, killed at least 80
people and Bilis, which hit on July 14, claimed over 600 lives.