Please help us improve PreventionWeb by taking this brief survey. Your input will allow us to better serve the needs of the DRR community.
Stink bugs could be unleashed to battle China's fall armyworms
With assistance by Shuping Niu
Scientists in China are seeking to deploy an army of predatory stink bugs to battle a fall armyworm incursion that threatens to devastate the country’s grain crops.
The insect, Arma chinensis, is a natural enemy of fall armyworm, according to the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Researchers there believe it may be a useful biological agent to control the crop-ravaging caterpillar, which arrived in China early this year after spreading from the Americas to Africa and across parts of southern Asia.
[...]
The fall armyworm has affected crops in 18 provinces and is predicted to reach China’s corn belt in the northeast of the country this month. There’s a “high probability” that the pest will spread to the entire country’s grain-producing area in the next year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on May 29.
The Institute of Plant Protection has set up a “factory” that can breed 10 million stink bugs a year to sustainably manage the pest without heavy reliance on pesticides.
[...]
Explore further
Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of UNDRR, PreventionWeb, or its sponsors. See our terms of use
Is this page useful?
Yes No Report an issue on this pageThank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).