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.
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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.
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