China secures bumper harvest for 17 consecutive years

China has embraced its 17th consecutive year of a bumper harvest after reporting an annual grain output of nearly 1.34 trillion tonnes, up 11.3 billion tonnes from a year ago. It’s been the sixth year for China to report an annual grain output above 1.3 trillion tonnes.

The bumper harvest was a result of the country’s efforts to stabilize its policies, farmland areas, and yields. It also came from the Chinese people’s victory against COVID-19 and floods. The Chinese people have full control over their food supply.

The total area of China’s rice crop has been kept above 450 million mu (a mu equals to around 0.67 hectares), and the paddy production usually exceeds 200 million tonnes, ranking first in the world.

The country has established functional areas for grain production and protected areas for the production of important agricultural products, as well as built high-standard farmland and farmland providing high and stable yields, which both improve the output and enhanced farmland’s capability to resist natural disasters.

Statistics indicate that China’s grain output stood at 382 kilograms per mu in 2020, 0.9 kilogram higher than that in 2019. The yield per mu of both hybrid rice and super rice has surpassed a tonne.

Zhang Jinghui is a farmer of the Qixing farm in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. He told the People’s Daily that the farm harvested over 1 million mu of rice, with each mu yielding over 600 kilograms, hitting a historical high.

The man has replaced human labor with machines in farm work, which not only saves manpower, but also improves efficiency. So far, China has over 24 million sets of agricultural machines, and over 70 percent of major crops are handled by machines. The enhanced agricultural technology and equipment have consolidated the foundation for China to improve grain output.

The green production of grains has also made major achievements. The country is gradually reducing the amount of cultivating additions in agricultural production, adopting clean production, and turning waste into resources.

The use of fertilizers and pesticides has been on a continuous decline in China over the recent years. Last year, the utilization rate of fertilizers of the three major grains hit 39.2 percent, while the utilization rate of pesticides stood at 39.8 percent, 4 percentage points and 3.2 percentage points higher from those in 2015, respectively.

Around 75 percent of livestock’s excretion was recycled, while 86 percent of straws were used. In addition, the recycling rate of agricultural films was 80 percent. Over 97 percent of agricultural products met quality and safety standards.