A dozen local farmers were looking sadly at the rice fields not far away.
The rice that should have been green and shiny now has brown spots on its leaves and stalks, making it look diseased.
Several agricultural experts who were hired were leading people to inspect and take samples in the rice fields.
"Naihaq, didn't you use fungicides?" one of the middle-aged agricultural experts asked the leader of the farmers, Hakbancai.
Hakpanchai explained hurriedly while wiping his sweat: "Kunipa Doqi, we have used fungicides three times."
Agricultural expert Badu Qijunlanala looked at Hakpanchai in confusion. Seeing that the other party did not want to lie, he then asked: "Bring over the pesticides you used."
"Okay." Hakbanchai turned around and asked a few farmers to get pesticides.
After a while, two farmers came over with a large bag of pesticides. There were several pesticides in it. Badu Qijunlanala picked up the pesticides and made a preliminary inspection and found that there were no problems with the pesticides.
Strange! These drugs are all used to inhibit and kill rice blast. Since there is no problem with fungicides, why are the fungicides ineffective?
With the sampling and inspection completed, Badu Qijun Ranala looked at the results and explained to the farmers:
"These rice plants are initially determined to be infected with rice blast. As for the fact that the fungicides are ineffective, it may be that the previous fungicides have developed resistance. You can try other fungicides."
"Kunnai, can you introduce some suitable fungicides?" Huck asked quickly.
"No problem." Ba Duoqi quickly talked about some newly released fungicides. After collecting the business trip expenses, Ba Duoqi took the people and samples and left.
However, local farmers can only buy new fungicides.
Huck's farm employs many farmers. These farmers wear simple masks and carry a bucket of fungicide on their backs. They pressurize it by hand and lift the spray pole to spray the fungicide evenly into the rice fields.
Other farmers do the same thing.
Looking at the sick rice, Huck clasped his hands in prayer and chanted: "Buddha bless! Bodhisattva bless!"
…
Agricultural expert Baduoqi, who brought the samples back, immediately arranged for staff to test the samples as soon as he returned to the institute.
As a traditional rice-growing country, and Siam is one of the Four Asian Tigers, its research on rice is pretty good and is not far behind China.
After some laboratory tests, Ba Duoqi felt bad about the report in his hand and immediately arranged for personnel to conduct genetic testing.
Sure enough, after a test, it was found that the fungus had mutated, and the mutation was very frightening. It is very resistant to most of the fungicides currently on the market.
Baduoqi immediately wrote a paper to publish this discovery.
Immediately, other countries that suffered from rice blast also started testing, and they immediately discovered that the rice in their own countries also had mutated fungi.
Only at this time did Southeast Asia and Tianzhu react.
Faced with this unkillable fungus, many farmers are desperate, especially those who rely on farming for a living.
Tianzhu is also a tropical country, and the terrible rice blast disease has spread through the air and spread to various rice planting areas in Tianzhu in less than a month.
As the most populous country, Tianzhu's total grain output is only about 310 million tons, equivalent to about 50% of China's.
Their domestic rice also accounts for one-third, with an annual output of 110 million tons, making them the world's second largest rice producer after China.
Once the rice production is completely cut off, it will be scary to think about it.
This means that about 30% of their domestic population will be short of food supply. In addition, Tianzhu itself does not have much food reserves, and the people do not have the habit of hoarding food extensively.
If there is no harvest of early rice this year, the consequence is that famine is imminent. Think of the crazy purchase of grains by various Western countries in the past, which echoes the current rice blast, and suddenly amplifies the terrible impact of the rice blast.
Especially for a populous country like Tianzhu, with a total population of more than one billion, there is a 30% food shortage, which means that 500 million people have no food.
This is not 5 million people, nor 50 million people, but 500 million people. Faced with this terrible gap, no country in the world can provide 100 million tons of food to Tianzhu.
Similarly, Southeast Asia is not optimistic at this time. Originally, considering the surge in international food prices this year, they all increased the area of rice planting, but now they are encountering rice blast.
…
Look back to the country.
Nether Palace has held emergency meetings for three consecutive days to discuss how to deal with this rice plague incident.
A series of measures were quickly taken to suppress the damage of the rice plague to a minimum.
Gui Province, Nanning.
The rice that had just been planted outside the suburbs had obvious brown spots. Zhang Suqing, the director of Baishicai Rural Cooperative, looked at the report in his hand.
He immediately called a dozen smart young people into the agricultural technology hall.
"Brother Zhang, why did you suddenly call everyone here?" Tan Xiaoqiang came over and asked.
Others also started talking in confusion. Zhang Suqing knocked on the table: "Sit down, we have something important to do."
Seeing Zhang Suqing's serious expression, Tan Xiaoqiang and others did not dare to make noises and quickly found chairs to sit down.
"You are all young people, let me give you an overview of the situation first..." Zhang Suqing explained in detail the rice blast disease in Southeast Asia and Qiongzhou, and turned on the projector nearby to play some news and videos.
Gulu! Tan Xiaoqiang was frightened and asked nervously: "Brother Zhang, what should I do now? The land has been planted."
"yes!"
"Is there any special medicine?"
"..."
Everyone became anxious.
"Quiet, listen to me." Zhang Suqing pressed her hands, and then continued: "The superiors are already aware of everyone's difficulties. Now, every acre of land that has been planted with rice has been given a subsidy of 500 yuan. Everyone has shoveled the rice seedlings and planted corn instead.
Potatoes, sweet potatoes.”
"...Is this too little?" Tan Xiaoqiang asked hesitantly.
Zhang Suqing gave him a slap on the head and said angrily: "To tell you the truth, this is a treatment only for members of the cooperative. Others can only be planted by themselves."
Although rural cooperatives paid a price this time, they also successfully used this rice blast incident to expand the influence of rural cooperatives.
In particular, the farmers in Qiongzhou, who had already seen their rice fields withered and turned yellow, saw that some farmers who joined rural cooperatives were receiving subsidies, and they quickly asked to join rural cooperatives.
Rural cooperatives rapidly expanded in Qiongzhou, Guizhou, and Lingnan.
In particular, rural cooperatives in Lingnan benefit from the huge electric energy provided by Jinwu No. 1. The internal electricity price provided by the State Grid to rural cooperatives is 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour.
This electricity price is about 15 to 18 times lower than the previous agricultural electricity price. Even the agricultural subsidy electricity price in poor areas is about 8 to 9 times this electricity price.
This ultra-low electricity price is conducive to the development of rural cooperatives and the recruitment of members. However, rural cooperatives and Huanong Group are also very strict in the management of this aspect.
Because there are definitely people who are trying to take advantage of this electricity price, such as using this electricity for commercial and industrial production. This aspect must be cracked down on and people cannot take advantage of it. At this time, artificial intelligence monitoring will come into play.