China to Ensure Grain SupplyThe Chinese government has vowed to halt the shrinkage of grain growing acreage to ensure sufficient grain supply.To balance grain output with demand, China needs to stabilize its total area of grain cultivation at 110 million hectares for the next few years, said Monday, February 12, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture. Official figures indicate that in 2000, farmland devoted to grain production decreased by six million hectares year-on-year to 107.1 million hectares, the lowest since 1949. The downsizing trend apparently continued this year, as local agricultural authorities have planned to cut the area by another 2.66 million hectares, according to Wu. Experts contributed the shrinkage to consecutive bumper grain harvests, the paper said, adding that grain output exceeded 490 million tons each year for five years before 2000, which led some local governments to discourage grain production. Prices for wheat and rice fell by nearly eight percent in 1999 from the previous year, which hurt farmers' interests in expanding and investing in production, according to Huang Binxing of the National Statistics Bureau. |
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