June 22, 2004

China Successfully Reversed Sliding Grains Produce Trend
 
China will reverse a four-year trend of sliding grains production, thanks to an estimated increase of 2.5 million tons in summer grains harvest, state-owned Xinhua News reported Monday.
 
The important summer harvest is almost completed. The Henan province, where one-tenth of the country's wheat production comes from, will harvest a 29.30 million tons of wheat, up 3.03 million tons from the record-high in the summer of 1997, Xinhua said.
 
An unnamed official from the Ministry of Agriculture said China will not have a problem producing its earlier goal of 455 million tons of grains for the whole year, Xinhua said.
 
"But this (increase) shouldn't lead us to a light-hearted attitude toward the grain production in the future," the same official was as saying.
 
China will continue its emphasis on food self-sufficiency, the official said.
 
China has earmarked a record high 150 billion yuan ($1=CNY8.28) in farm subsidies this year, of which CNY10 billion was distributed directly to the farmers tilling lands in the country's major grain producing areas, Xinhua said.
 
This fiscal support and a more than 30% price hike seen in major grains since October are the main reasons for a better summer harvest, the report said.
 
"China will have to rely on more science and technology input and further improvement in crop structure to increase its grains output in the long run," some unnamed agricultural experts were quoted by Xinhua.