Armyworm outbreak threatens China grain output

EP:  BEIJING – The armyworm outbreak in China’s key grain producing areas has posed a major threat to the corn and rice crops this year, authorities said Tuesday. The agriculture ministry has warned the local governments to heed to its pest control advice to ensure grain security, the China Daily reported. “We haven’t seen such a pest plague in so many places in almost a decade,” a spokesman for the ministry’s crop production department said. To date, at least two million hectares of autumn crops nationwide have been affected. The areas include Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Shanxi provinces, the Inner Mongolia region and Beijing and Tianjin municipalities. The government will allocate 200 million yuan ($3.5 million) to fight the pests, the official added.