Early Rice Yield to Fall 7 PercentThe production of early rice, a major Chinese grain that is grown from March to July, is expected to fall 7 per cent from last year to reach 37.5 million tonnes, according to the latest Ministry of Agriculture estimates.Agricultural officials earlier predicted that China's summer grain output would plummet 10 per cent from 1999 to 105 million tonnes. The ministry attributed the lower production of early rice to lesser acreage, plus efforts to maximize the crop-growing mix. On average, early rice contributes 8 per cent to the country's total grain harvest each year, with production concentrated in southern China, especially the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, ministry sources said. With the central government having phased out protective pricing for poor-quality or unmarketable grain, China's main rice-producing provinces are using smaller areas to grow early rice, especially lesser quality rice. Nationwide, 66.6 million hectares were reserved for early rice, a reduction of 12 per cent from 1999, according to ministry statistics. With normal weather and an absence of natural disasters during the five-month growing period, the ministry has predicted that the per-hectare yield of early rice will edge up 5 per cent from last year to reach 5,685 kilograms. |
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