China has now found the crop-destroying fall armyworm in over half of its provinces, further threatening the country's food security amid an outbreak of African swine fever that has led to the culling of at least 1m pigs.
China's agriculture ministry said on Wednesday that it had found fall armyworm in 19 of its 34 provinces, largely in the south of the country, covering 5m mu (333,333 hectares) of cropland. The ministry added that it was continuing to spread north, but that "timely and vigorous preventative measures" had slowed its progression.
China is the world's second-largest producer of corn, with production of the staple focused in the country's north east.