China Floods Boost Pests, Threaten Rice Crops

China’s mid-season and late-season rice crops face increasing threats from pests after widespread floods this summer made conditions ideal for insects to breed, the Ministry of Agriculture said today. Twice the amount of pests as last year were detected among crops in provinces from southwestern Guizhou to eastern Zhejiang, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Delayed planting and hotter weather in August and September will also boost breeding, it said, without giving the extent of the damage. China’s early-season rice harvest may decrease by 2.4 percent from last year, or 800,000 metric tons, because of floods, state-owned China National Grain & Oils Information forecast Aug. 4. Total output may still gain 0.8 percent to 196.6 million tons as mid-season and late-season crops are projected to more than offset the losses, it said. The ministry has started a campaign to save crops after the State Council last week urged main farming areas to boost production, the statement said. The government allocated 155 million yuan ($23 million) in emergency funding to promote measures including the proper application of pesticide chemicals, the statement said. Early, mid and late-season crops make up 16.5 percent, 65 percent and 18.5 percent of the harvest, respectively, according to the grain center report. Traders in Vietnam, the second-biggest rice exporter, may have “unofficially” shipped about 600,000 tons to China this year across the nation’s northern border, according to the Vietnam Food Association. Most of the shipments were made from April to July amid signs of increased demand from China, Huynh Minh Hue, general- secretary of the association, said Aug. 16 by phone. Through official channels, Vietnam has shipped less than 100,000 tons to China this year, Hue said. China’s rice output may fall as much as 7 percent this year after floods, Li Qiang, managing director at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., said this month.