Provincial and municipal authorities have been told to strengthen coastal and border inspections to prevent the spread of invasive plants and insects.

Inspection stations will be increased from the current 2,000-plus to 3,000 in a bid to contain pests that harm the country's corn and fruit crops, under a new Ministry of Agriculture guideline.

"Invasive insects and plants have come across the border and are rampant in some regions. They are endangering our agricultural product safety and posing a great threat to the global competitiveness of our farming sector," the guideline said.

The ministry said the number of invasive species increased from only one in the 1970s to 10 in the 1990s. And between 2000 and 2006 about 20 types of invasive species were detected in the country. That number is expected to grow as agricultural exchange increases.

Pests can be spread from province to province through activities like food transport, the guideline said.

The Colorado potato beetle, for example, was first detected in China in 1993. It has since spread quickly to 35 counties in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and affected about 11,000 hectares of potato crops.

The ministry warned that if the beetle migrates out of Xinjiang it will pose a threat to the country's entire potato industry.

The coastal inspection belt will target pests introduced from developed countries. It will be set up in provinces and municipalities including Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin in North China, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta and Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi in South China.

The border belt will target species from central, western and southern Asia, and Europe. It will be set up in provinces including Jilin, Heilongjiang and Yunnan.

The ministry said existing inspection stations lack technology and staff, and told local authorities to invest in their improvement.

The guideline also called for local authorities to be on alert for outbreaks in neighboring countries and to prepare for the possibility of migration.

There are currently more than 2,000 inspection sites at county-level across the nation, with about 10,000 staff.

A law on the entry and exit of harmful plants and insects has been in place since the 1980s.

But the emergence of new species and the international exchange of produce is making the task of inspection more challenging, according to experts.

(China Daily August 20, 2007)