Gyeonggi Agricultural Research & Extension Services Expands Pest and Disease Prevention for Fruit Trees

American lanternfly

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is strengthening surveillance activities to prevent spring pests and diseases.

The Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services announced on the 2nd that, anticipating a significant increase in spring pest outbreaks due to the warm winter weather, it plans to expand surveillance activities focusing on fruit trees and others.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecasted that temperatures will be higher than average and dry until May.

An official from the provincial agricultural research institute stated, "As average temperatures rise and conditions become drier, the survival rate of pests overwintering in orchards and forests may increase, and in greenhouse cultivation areas, there is concern about an increase in pests such as thrips that transmit viral diseases."

The key pests under surveillance are all invasive species: the American whitefly (Ameican whitefly), brown-winged cicada (Gyeol-nalgae maemi-chung), and the flower cicada (Kkotmaemi), each showing different patterns of establishment and spread in Korea depending on their native origins.

The brown-winged cicada and flower cicada originate from China, and their outbreak timing can be advanced this year due to winter temperatures.

The American whitefly, native to North America, is less affected by Korea’s winter temperatures, but since its first introduction in 2010, its outbreak timing has advanced by about 10 days annually.

Since last month, the provincial agricultural research institute has already begun investigating the overwintering populations and survival rates of these pests in major farmlands and surrounding forests in Anseong, Gapyeong, and other areas within the province.

Brown cricket

Lee Young-soon, head of the Environmental Agriculture Research Division at the provincial agricultural research institute, emphasized, "We will proactively respond to the changing climate to predict pest and disease outbreaks, and we will spare no effort to minimize damage to farms by sharing real-time information with city and county agricultural technology centers based on the prediction results."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.