China will be able to feed its people, even when the country's population rises to 1.5 billion, according to a latest international research, China Daily reported on November 25.

The conclusion is the result of a four-year study by the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the Institute of Geography of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The new study contradicts earlier research that found China could not feed its growing population because of a shortage of arable land and would have to import a large amount of food.

China now has a population of 1.2 billion people, or 22 percent of the world's population. It is projected to 1.5 billion by the year of 2025.

The earlier studies underestimated China's cultivated land and the larger role scientific advances and technology could play, said authors of the latest study.

"China has great potential to increase its food supply if appropriate measures are adopted," Gerhard Heilig, a senior researcher at the international institute, was quoted as saying.

The research found that the so-called "degradation" of arable land only slightly affected crop production.

"Most of the cropland decline is a result of conversion -- farmers using crop land for horticulture land, fish ponds or for re-forestation," said Heilig, who headed the study.

China is one of the most advanced countries in terms of using genetic markets and tools in rice breeding, and the technology will benefit China in ensuring a more than adequate food supply, Heilig said.

"Taking into account population, change in diet, urbanization, arable land quantity and water resources into consideration, we found China has great potential for increasing its food supply, and the viewpoint that China's food needs will pose a threat to the world is nonsense," Heilig concluded.