Rice Planthoppers

Kong Luen Heong · Jiaan Cheng

Monica M. Escalada
Editors

Rice Planthoppers
Ecology, Management, Socio Economics
and Policy

13
Editors
Kong Luen Heong Monica M. Escalada
Center for Agricultural Bio Science Visayas State University
International Baybay
Serdong Philippines
Malaysia

Jiaan Cheng
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou
China

ISBN 978-94-017-9534-0 ISBN 978-94-017-9535-7 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9535-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014950652

Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London

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Foreword

Rice has been cultivated in China for more than 7,000 years and is the staple food
of more than half of the world and about 80 % of the Asian population. The yield
per unit area has been increasing significantly since the first green revolution in
the 1960s. However, the intensification of rice production using the technology
developed in the first green revolution has caused negative externalities, such as
environmental pollution, more pests, and food safety problems. With ever-increasing
population, rice production has to be further doubled in the next 50 years with lim-
ited land and water available and it might be the only way to produce more rice
through increasing yield per unit area.
Although China and many countries in the world are making progress in
increasing yields per unit area, a substantial amount of food is also lost to insect
damages. For example, China’s rice production loses about a million tons every
year and more than two million tons in some abnormal years due to the planthop-
per problems. The historical data indicates that planthopper problems are get-
ting worse under the traditional intensified agricultural practices with increasing
chemical fertilizer and insecticide inputs. Realizing this, scientists in Zhejiang
University working with scientists from the International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) initiated the first international planthopper workshop at a modest scale in
2006. This was to be followed by a larger planthopper conference held in IRRI
in 2008. More recently, in November 2012 Zhejiang University co-sponsored the
International Rice Planthopper Conference that was held in the University’s new
campus in Zijingang, Hangzhou. A total of 170 scientists from nine countries pre-
sented 93 papers and posters of a wide range of topics ranging from genetics, ecol-
ogy and sociology related to managing rice planthoppers.
Zhejiang University is one of the largest universities involved in agricultural
research in China. The university proudly houses the National Key Laboratory
of Rice Biology jointly with the China Rice Research Institute and the National
Key Discipline of Plant Protection. These institutes focus research on pest issues,
especially for rice pests. Professors from Zhejiang University led a consortium of
research partners and won a prestigious National Basic Research Program of China
to further explore the mechanisms for frequent outbreak of rice planthoppers and

v
vi Foreword

develop sustainable management strategies to improve planthopper management

in China. The Zhejiang University led the consortium working closely with the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) developed a comprehensive research
program to address issues related to molecular biology, ecology, management, and
policies related to planthopper pests.
The research had demonstrated that unlike other insect pests, planthoppers with
high fecundity and high adaptability to intensified rice ecosystems are second-
ary pests that are frequently induced by inappreciated crop practices, especially
in insecticide misuse. The 2012 Conference focused on addressing the ecologi-
cal, management, and sociological issues surrounding the planthopper problem.
Most had come to realize that such a pest problem cannot be fixed by technology
alone and the integration of biological and ecological technology, social sciences,
and policy research is necessary. This book provides summaries and analyses of
key research works that will bear on developing management strategies. Clearly,
China as well as other countries will need to focus on developing more sustain-
able ‘green’ approaches to solving pest problems and reaching higher yield per
unit area simultaneously. I hope that this book will be a good guide to scholars,
researchers, and students seeking for ideas and materials.

June 2014 Jianhua Lin

President
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou
People’s Republic of China
Preface

The International Conference on “Rice Planthoppers—Ecology, Management,

Socio Economics and Policy” was held in Zhejiang university’s new campus
in Zhijinggang, Hangzhou, November 21–23, 2012. The conference brought
together researchers from Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan,
Myanmar, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, the FAO, and IRRI. This confer-
ence came about as a result of numerous outbreaks of planthoppers in China,
Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar from 2005 to
2012. Planthoppers are generally not pests as they are well controlled by natural
­biological control services that are abundant in rice ecosystems. However, when
such services are compromised, their populations grow exponentially into out-
breaks destroying crops, causing a symptom called ‘hopper burn’. In addition,
planthoppers are also vectors of several virus diseases that will destroy newly
planted crops in the seasons following the outbreaks.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the early days of the Green Revolution, planthoppers
became major threats to rice production following high use of subsidized ferti-
lizer and pesticides and when the subsidies were removed the pest subsided. These
same pests have returned with a vengeance, causing even more destruction and
misery to farmers throughout East and Southeast Asia. Today, rice planthoppers
have become rice’s most serious pest problems. In the last few years they have
caused crop losses of more than 10 million tons.
The most seriously affected country was Thailand. From 2008, Thailand’s rice
bowl in the central Plains has suffered continuous outbreaks for 14 consecutive
seasons. In January 2010 the government of Thailand announced a 16 % reduction
in their export forecasts. Thousands of farmers had lost their crops and in February
2010 the government announced a release of US $60 million to compensate farm-
ers’ losses. Economists quantified the 2010 dry season crop loss due to planthop-
per attacks to be more than US $50 million at farm gate price. In addition, the
government spent more than US $1 million to launch 28 control campaigns in
14 provinces and released emergency funds of about US $16 million to
purchase insecticides for distribution which contributed to the sustained outbreaks.
In June 2011, the Rice Department in collaboration with the Thai Agro Business

vii
viii Preface

Association (TABA) and IRRI launched a campaign to “stop the use of abamectin
and cypermethrin” in rice. These two types of insecticides were major culprits to
pest resurgences. The campaign reduced on-farm use of these insecticides but appli-
cations remain high as retailers very quickly introduced other products into the
market.
Similarly, Indonesian farmers suffered the same threats and Java alone lost
about a million tons in 2011. Losses in other years were however not quanti-
fied. Smaller patches of outbreaks had occurred in Malaysia, India, Myanmar,
Bangladesh, Philippines, and India while China continues to lose about one mil-
lion ton a year. In 2012, the southern provinces of China suffered the worst plan-
thopper outbreaks in the last 20 years. Besides economic losses, thousands of
farmers have suffered crop failures, pesticide poisoning, and severe debt problems,
which have forced them into poverty and hunger and even suicide.
Planthoppers are secondary pests that are normally under natural control.
Outbreaks are symptoms of unsustainable practices that destroy vital biodiver-
sity and ecosystem services triggering exponential population growth resulting in
outbreaks. Although abnormal weather like droughts and floods can also trigger
outbreaks, the most consistent factor in Asia is insecticide misuse. Insecticide mis-
use in Asia is due to weak marketing regulations that permit pesticides to be sold
as fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs), like toothpaste and soap. In addition,
insecticide active ingredients are marketed in hundreds of trade names in plastic
sachets packaging, like instant coffee and shampoo, and retailed by village gen-
eral stores. To promote sales aggressive marketing campaigns are often used with
numerous sales incentives, like gifts, free trips, lottery tickets, and even a trip to
Mecca. At the grass-root level farmers rely on pesticide retailers for advice, recom-
mendations, and supply of pesticides and this inevitably result in rampant misuse.
At the 2008 Planthopper Conference held at IRRI, scientists in attend-
ance developed a consensus that planthopper problems are induced by insecti-
cide ­misuse. Technologies such as resistant varieties alone are unable to solve the
problem. At the 2012 Planthopper Conference, scientists further confirmed that
planthopper problems are insecticide-induced and developed consensus that strat-
egies to solve such problems would need intervention through the social sci-
ences and policy reforms. Eleven papers from the conference that addressed
ecology, management, socioeconomics, and policy were selected for this book.
The first chapter describes the planthopper problems in China in the last half
century by Prof. Jiaan Cheng who has been working on these problems since
the 1960s. In Chap. 2, another veteran who has been working on planthop-
pers since the 1970s, Dr. K. Sogawa, describes how this man-made problem is
occurring in all rice ecosystems in Asia. Chapter 3 is another synthesis paper
prepared as a Working Paper for the Asia Development Bank (ADB) that sum-
marizes the general findings from the Regional Research and Development
Technical Assistance project that supported a lot of the work. The chapter extends
discussions into the realm of policy weaknesses in pesticide control and calls for
reforms and the ‘professionalizing’ of plant protection services similar to that of
medical services. Dr. T. Wada, another planthopper veteran researcher, discusses the
Preface ix

differences in the biology of rice planthoppers in tropical and temperature regions.

This is followed in Chap. 5 by Prof. Yonggen Lou et al. discussing herbivore-induced
defenses in rice that can be useful in avoiding pesticide use. The huge amounts of
insecticide used in rice, especially in China, has resulted in rapid developments in
resistance. Professor Zewen Liu et al. outline the mechanisms of insecticide resist-
ance development in planthoppers in Chap. 6. Technologies alone are unable to
manage planthopper problems and more ecologically based approaches are needed.
Professor Geoff Gurr et al. in Chap. 7 explores the potential of ecological engineer-
ing methods for delivering ecosystem services that will render protection to rice
crops. The pioneering work to introduce ecological engineering methods to manage
planthoppers was carried out in Jin Hua, China by Zhongxian Lu and colleagues and
this is described in Chap. 8. Farmers’ insecticide applications are less than perfect
and a large proportion of their sprays is unnecessary. In Chap. 9, K.L. Heong and
colleagues examined insecticide use and yield data from more than 5,000 farms and
found that there were very little productivity gains from farmers insecticide use.
Planthopper outbreaks are unpleasant experiences that rice farmers are constantly
fearful of. In Chap. 10, Monina Escalada et al. examine the social impacts of plan-
thopper outbreaks on farmers in Central Thailand. Finally in Chap. 11, Geoff Norton
et al. use a resilience model to encapsulate the ecological, social, and policy aspects
surrounding the rice planthopper problem and suggest a conceptual framework for
future use in tackling such a complex problem as the rice planthopper.
The last book on rice planthoppers published by IRRI in 2009 outlines new par-
adigms to chart sustainable ways to manage these secondary pests. We hope that
this book will provide further thoughts on the new paradigms, especially in the
application of ecological engineering methods and in ‘fixing’ the problem through
policy interventions and reforms. The website http://ricehoppers.net/ will continue
to update on issues related to rice planthopper management and ecological engi-
neering methods.
We are grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology for providing the
National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB126200) and to Chinese
National Natural Science Foundation for providing an International Cooperative
Project (Grant No. 30771420) to enable the university scientists to work with IRRI
scientists and to the Asia Development Bank for providing the Regional Research
and Development Technical Assistance grant to IRRI that supported the research
and conference. In particular are especially grateful to Dr. Lourdes Adriano,
Principal Economist in the Bank who had provided great guidance.

June 2014 K.L. Heong

J. Cheng
M.M. Escalada
Acknowledgments

Many people contributed in preparing this book. First of all we would like to thank
the authors and co-authors for spending time to prepare and edit the 11 chapters.
Most of the work presented here came out of the international conference on
“Rice Planthoppers—Ecology, Management, Socio Economics and Policy” held
in Zhejiang university’s new campus in Zijingang, Hangzhou, November 21–23,
2012. Most of the authors attended this conference and we thank the spon-
sors, in particular the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), and the private sector.
Many colleagues, staff, and students helped at various stages in preparing this
book. In particular, we would especially thank Ms. Sylvia Villareal, Ms. Josie Lyn
Catindig, Ms. Joy Hasmin Delos Reyes, Mr. Patrick Garcia of the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for their technical assistance and in data collec-
tion. From Zhejiang University, we would like to especially thank Ms. Tong Fang
Zhang, Ms. Jin Zhang, Mr. Jiancai Li, Ms. Chaonan Yu, Mr. Rui Ji for technical
assistance.
We would like to thank China’s Ministry of Science and Technology for pro-
viding the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB126200) and
financing the production of this book and to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
for supporting the editing of several chapters. Chapter 3 is printed with permis-
sion from ADB and we thank the head of publishing in the Department of External
Relations for granting us permission.

xi
Contents

1 Rice Planthoppers in the Past Half Century in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Jiaan Cheng

2 Planthopper Outbreaks in Different Paddy Ecosystems

in Asia: Man-Made Hopper Plagues that Threatened
the Green Revolution in Rice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Kazushige Sogawa

3 Addressing Planthopper Threats to Asian Rice Farming

and Food Security: Fixing Insecticide Misuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Kong Luen Heong, Larry Wong and Joy Hasmin Delos Reyes

4 Rice Planthoppers in Tropics and Temperate East Asia:

Difference in Their Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Takashi Wada

5 Herbivore-Induced Defenses in Rice and Their Potential

Application in Rice Planthopper Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Yonggen Lou, Lingfei Hu and Jiancai Li

6 Mechanisms of Rice Planthopper Resistance to Insecticides . . . . . . . 117

Zewen Liu, Jincai Wu, Yixi Zhang, Fang Liu,
Jianxiang Xu and Haibo Bao

7 The Big Picture: Prospects for Ecological Engineering to Guide

the Delivery of Ecosystem Services in Global Agriculture . . . . . . . . . 143
Geoff M. Gurr, Zeng-Rong Zhu and Minsheng You

xiii
xiv Contents

8 Rice Pest Management by Ecological Engineering:

A Pioneering Attempt in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Zhongxian Lv, Pingyang Zhu, Geoff M. Gurr,
Xusong Zheng, Guihua Chen and Kong Luen Heong

9 Are There Productivity Gains from Insecticide

Applications in Rice Production? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Kong Luen Heong, Monica M. Escalada, Ho Van Chien
and Joy Hasmin Delos Reyes

10 Social Impacts of Planthopper Outbreaks in Thailand. . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Monica M. Escalada, Manit Luecha and Kong Luen Heong

11 Future Planthopper Management: Increasing

the Resilience of Rice Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Geoff A. Norton, Kong Luen Heong and Jiaan Cheng

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Contributors

Haibo Bao College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing,

Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China
Guihua Chen Jinhua Plant Protection Station, Jinhua, China
Jiaan Cheng Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Ho Van Chien Southern Regional Plant Protection Center, Long Dinh, Vietnam
Joy Hasmin Delos Reyes Asian Development Bank, Mandaluyong, Philippines
Monica M. Escalada Department of Development Communication, Visayas State
University, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines
Geoff M. Gurr Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, NSW Department of
Primary Industries, Charles Sturt University, Orange, NSW, Australia; Institute of
Applied Ecology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
Kong Luen Heong Centre for Agricultural Biosciences International (CABI),
South East Asia Regional Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
Lingfei Hu Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Jiancai Li Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Fang Liu School of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu,
Peoples Republic of China
Zewen Liu College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing,
Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China
Yonggen Lou Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Zhongxian Lu Institute of Plant Protection and Microbiology, Zhejiang Academy
of Agriculture Sciences, Hangzhou, China
Manit Luecha Chainat Rice Seed Center, Chainat, Thailand

xv
xvi Contributors

Geoff A. Norton University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Kazushige Sogawa Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Takashi Wada NARO Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, Kumamoto,
Koshi, Japan
Larry Wong Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Jincai Wu School of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu,
Peoples Republic of China
Jianxiang Xu School of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu,
Peoples Republic of China
Minsheng You Institute of Applied Ecology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry
University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
Yixi Zhang College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing,
Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China
Xusong Zheng Institute of Plant Protection and Microbiology, Zhejiang Academy
of Agriculture Sciences, Hangzhou, China
Zeng-Rong Zhu Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou,
China
Pingyang Zhu Jinhua Plant Protection Station, Jinhua, China