China's major sugar producer tackle pests with biological measure

NANNING — Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, China's biggest producer of sugar, has reduced pesticide use by more than 30 metric tons since 2011 through biological pest control, local authorities said.

Guangxi has used an army of Trichogramma chilonis, a kind of wasp, to combat sugarcane borers, in around 3 million mu (200,000 hectares) of low-yield fields over the past seven years, according to Guo Xuquan, deputy head with the Department of Agriculture of Guangxi.

The biological measure has not only reduced the pesticide use, but also increased the sugarcane yield by 29 percent per mu compared with fields using pesticides, Guo said.

Guangxi has 15 million mu of sugarcane fields, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total in China.

To promote the low-carbon development in agriculture, China plans to achieve zero increase of fertilizers and pesticide use by 2020.

"Biological pest control is an effective alternative to pesticide," said Zheng Li, president at the natural enemy insect technology association.

"More than 20 kinds of insects have been used to combat their destructive natural enemies in the country," said Zheng.