China works toward self-sufficiency in corn

China is on the road to sufficiency in corn and rice and it bodes well for the world market long distressed by lower grain production.

Rice is consumed by half of humanity while corn is the single biggest feed crop on the planet. Corn is consumed by livestock, poultry and other animals.

With the issuance of such certificates, James said China would most likely cultivate these biotech corn and rice varieties after the standard two and three years of standard registration field trials before commercialisation.

With last year's food crisis, price spikes, and hunger and malnutrition afflicting more than one billion people for the first time ever, there has been a global shift from efforts for just food security to food self-sufficiency, James added.

With a current population of 1.3 billion, biotech crops are a critical component for China and other countries to gain self-sufficiency, he said.