BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) -
* A destructive pest will infest another 1.33 million hectares (3.29 million acres) of corn-growing farmland in China in the second half of 2019, a government-backed agriculture institute said on Friday
* The fall armyworm is expected to hit more areas in the corn growing regions of northern China, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Serve Center said in a report released on its website
* Fall armyworm has spread to 21 provinces and regions in China since it was first detected in the country's southwestern province of Yunnan in January, and has infested 11.88 million mu (792,000 hectares) of land growing corn in the first six months of the year, according to the report
* Fall armyworm, which feast in large numbers on the leaves and stems of many plant species, including sorghum, corn and sugarcane, can infest and damage hundreds of hectares of crops in a single night
* The pest will keep affecting corn fields in the south of the China, with Yunnan province and Guangxi autonomous region to be hit the hardest, the government report said
* China had about 130 million hectares of arable land as of the end of 2017 and grows corn on about 42 million hectares. (Reporting by Hallie Gu and Shivani Singh; editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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