China's grain production would not be badly affected by the drought in southwest China, according to Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources.

China's major grain production bases lay in the northern areas, and the arable land in the drought-hit southwest regions stand at 344 million mu (22.93 million hectares), of which, 260 million mu (17.3 million hectares), is used for grain production, accounting for only 16% of the nation's total, according to Liu.

As of the end of 2008, China had about 1.83 billion mu (122 million hectares) of arable land.