May 25, 2004

China Wheat Stripe Rust Brought Under Control

Stripe rust that hit 3.3 million hectares of wheat in China in the spring has now been basically brought under control and would not cause further loss, according to an agricultural expert from the All-China Agricultural Technology Spreading Center.

The disease in northern and southwestern parts of China has been put under control, while the northwestern areas, like Gansu and Qinghai provinces and Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, are still using pesticides.

"From what we calculated currently, the yield losses caused by the disease will be controlled within a range of 5 percent," said Zhao Zhonghua, a senior agronomist from the center.

Detailed calculation would not be available until all the wheat is harvested.

Citing the disease as "rather severe", Zhao said the affected acreage was less than expected in March.

In March, the Ministry of Agriculture predicted 6.7 million acres of wheat would be affected.

Stripe rust is a global threat to wheat, which could cause 30 percent of yield loss or even no harvest in large-scale prevalence. China suffered large-scale prevalence of the disease in 1950, 1964 and 1990.

Zhao attributed the success in disease control to early finding and early treatment. Taking central China's Henan Province, the largest wheat producer in the country, as example, 1.3 million ha of 4.7 million ha of wheat have been affected by the disease. Because of timely treatment, most of the affected wheat was controlled in small scale.

To ensure a summer harvest, the Ministry of Agriculture had released an urgent notice at the end of this March, asking farmers and local government to spare no efforts to prevent and treat the disease.