December 3, 2007

China to subsidise renovation of grain reserves

China's grain administration announced it would be subsidising the repair and expansion of the country's granaries to reduce losses and protect reserves.

Xi Jianwei, deputy director of the administration, said the State Grain Administration has started trial programmes in Shandong, Liaoning and Sichuan provinces to build or renovate barns for 32,000 farmers and train farmers in modern grain-storage techniques.

China's central and local governments will cover 80 percent of the estimated US$2.8 million for the renovations.

The rehabilitation of granaries will be completed by May 2008, Xi said. This will be the beginning of a 10-year plan to reduce grain losses for 5 million farmers, who comprise about 2 percent of the nation's farmers.

The government expects the programme to save more than 5.5 billion kilogrammes of grain each year, equivalent to adding eight million hectares of fertile cropland a year.

Li Weisheng, a professor in Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that reducing grain losses would alleviate problems such as shrinking farmland, frequent floods and droughts and the rising demand.