On 22 May 2014, Taiwan Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agricultural, Executive Yuan (BAPHIQ) issued a warning outlining that MCMV (Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus) infection had been identified in a corn field in Taiwan. The Bureau is taking measures to increase supervision on seed import management and pest control

The Bureau detected the MCMV in the southern part of Taiwan and identified the major infection vectors as sweet corn and waxy corn. The pathogen is primarily transmitted through a combination of crop damage inflicted by agricultural machinery and thrips. The Bureau advises sterilization of all agricultural machinery and weeding of grasses to reduce the number of hosts.

As the government has not yet approved any pesticide to control thrips on corn, the bureau has urged the TACTRI/CoA (Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, Council of Agricultural) to initiate emergency screening on certain pesticides which will be subsequently published for emergency use in the near future. Furthermore, the agricultural research Institute under the CoA is selecting and promoting virus-resistance crop varieties to reduce the crop loss.

Reference Link

BAPHIQ's News Release(in Chinese)