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Mechanized Paddy Production Crucial to China's AgricultureChina will promote mechanized paddy production nationwide as it is crucial for modernizing the country's agriculture, Vice-Minister of Agriculture Zhang Baowen said on April 10 in Beijing.He told the International Conference on the Mechanization of China's Paddy Production, which opened on April 10, that China has never had such an urgent need to modernize its paddy production, now that more farmers, especially in the eastern regions, are moving to the industrial and service sector. Meanwhile, the ongoing adjustment of the country's agriculture and the improvement of the farmers' life also call for overhaul in paddy production, he said. China's paddy acreage accounts for over 34 percent of the country's total crop acreage, while its output accounts for more than 44 percent of the crop grain output, making up 23 percent and 37 percent respectively of the world's paddy acreage and output. However, paddy production mechanization in China lags behind wheat, corn and other staple grains. In 1998, only four percent of rice planting and 10 percent of harvesting were conducted with machinery, said Niu Dun, director of the Agricultural Mechanization Department attached to the ministry. Niu attributed China's relatively low mechanized paddy production to inadequate research and development of new technologies and implements. He said that China should introduce more advanced technologies and tools from other countries. The two-day conference is sponsored by the Agricultural Mechanization Department, and is attended by officials, experts and business people from major paddy producing countries including Japan, the U.S., and France.
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