Kaiyang promotes potato pest control technology

A potato pest control technology promotional event is held in Kaiyang county on June 2. [Photo/Guiyang news network]

A potato pest control technology promotional event was held on June 2 in Liuyu village in Kaiyang county -- administered by Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province -- as part of a wider push to ensure higher production levels of agricultural crops.

Officials from the Guizhou plant protection and plant inspections department, the province's potato blight experts, representatives from potato farm cooperatives, business representatives and farmers participated in the event.

Potatoes are currently entering their flowering period, which is an important stage in determining potato production and it is a critical period for the prevention and control of late blight in the crop.

The event aimed to spread the word about effective prevention and control technology for potato diseases and insect pests.

It also aimed at promoting green plant protection technology to better serve agriculture -- helping to ensure food production safety and the supply of agricultural products -- and spur the high-quality development of the agriculture sector in Guizhou province.

During the event, participants learned about natural morbidity of different varieties of potatoes and the use of pesticides for the prevention and control of late potato blights. They also learned how to use prevention and control equipment, such as automatic field weather stations, crop-dusting drones and solar-powered pest traps.

In recent years, Kaiyang county has made great efforts to promote advanced planting technologies, new comprehensive agricultural services, experimental demonstrations of new varieties and brand building and sales of agricultural products.

The county established the potato farm in Liuyu village and in 2021, it had fully mechanized the cultivation of 500 mu (33 hectares) of potatoes, with an estimated yield of about 2,000 kilograms per mu.

The potato plants in Liuyu village [Photo/Guiyang news network]