China expects bumper grain harvest this summer

Aerial photo taken on May 21, 2021 shows farmers reaping wheat with harvesters at Heping Township, Changxing County, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Wu Zheng/Xinhua)

BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to see a bumper summer grain harvest this year thanks to increasing yields of harvested crops and better crop conditions, an official said Tuesday.

Currently, more than half of the wheat in the southwest part of China has been harvested, and the trend of increasing output is obvious, said Tang Renjian, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The crops in the alluvial plains along the Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers also grew better than last year and during normal years, he said.

The total area devoted to growing winter wheat has increased by more than 3 million mu (200,000 hectares) this year, reversing the downward trend seen over the past four years, Tang said.

A total of over 600,000 combine harvesters will be deployed to harvest the wheat this year, he said, adding that the country should make full use of agricultural machinery to harvest its 335 million mu (22.33 million hectares) of wheat in around 30 days.

As China has limited land for cultivation and faces difficulty in increasing its arable land coverage, the country should reduce the amount of grain lost during harvesting, Tang said.

Major wheat-growing regions should strengthen technical training for farmers and guide them in harvesting the crops at the proper time and with suitable machines, he added.