December 19, 2024

 

Heilongjiang, China, produced more than 80 billion kg of grain this year

 

 

Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, known as China's grain barn, produced about 80 billion kilogrammes of grain in 2024, sustaining its role as the country's top grain producer for 15 years in a row, official data showed on December 14.

 

According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Heilongjiang's grain output exceeded 80 billion kg for the first time, accounting for 11.33% of the country's total this year.

 

This year's harvest was hard won, challenged with the strenuous tasks of boosting soybean production and dealing with extreme weather that caused multiple natural disasters, said Pang Haitao, director of the provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.

 

He attributed the harvest to black soil conservation measures, the cultivation of high-quality seeds, and modern agricultural management. The province plans to lift its grain production to 90 billion kg by 2026 to help safeguard the country's food security.

 

Heilongjiang has been a pioneer in boosting the domestic production of soybeans to reduce China's reliance on imports.

 

China's soybean planting area remained above 10 million hectares this year, and the output is expected to exceed 20 million tonnes for the third consecutive year.

 

Wang Xiaohui, chief analyst of the China National Grain and Oils Information Center, said that the price of domestic soybeans with low protein content in Heilongjiang has gone lower than that of imported soybeans. Such soybeans are good for oil-pressing, and their growers have reported better profit from last year.

 

At the beginning of the year, the provincial agricultural department issued a list of 135 recommended high-quality varieties of major crops. There are 16 crop breeding demonstration bases in the province, where farmers can check the crops in the field before selecting the right seeds.

 

Over the years, Heilongjiang's provincial government has appropriated ¥300 million (US$41.2 million) annually to support the development of the seed industry, said Meng Linghui, an official of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

 

Meanwhile, reinforcing disaster-resistance capacity is crucial for ensuring the province's bumper harvest.

 

During spring sowing, a cold spell and rainy weather hit Hailun City, Heilongjiang, freezing seedlings. The local authority immediately launched emergency disaster relief, helping farmers purchase seeds for replanting.

 

During summer flooding, 89 large and medium-sized reservoirs in the province enlarged water-holding volumes, preventing 2.23 billion cubic meters of water from flooding some 56,900 hectares of farmland.

 

According to data from the province's agricultural department, Heilongjiang has built over eight million hectares of high-standard farmlands, which boast sound soil conditions for grain cultivation and are resilient to drought and flooding.

 

As of the end of July, Heilongjiang had 11.4 million hectares of grain covered by agricultural insurance this year, an increase of 4.27% year-on-year.

 

- People's Daily Online