China food security: grain reigns supreme as higher yields sought from limited land

China has set out to boost grain yields in an action plan listing essential tasks for country’s drive to ensure food security

Last year’s output was a national record, but authorities want improvement as arable land stagnates and gap widens with West in seed development

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Grain yields have been named as a major priority as China pursues food security in an increasingly uncertain global food environment. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:40pm, 12 Apr 2024

As it pursues a stable food supply in an increasingly fraught global environment, China has laid out plans to increase its grain yield and spur the advancement of its seed industry – essential to guaranteeing the nutritional needs of its people and bringing the country closer to agricultural parity with the advanced economies of the West.

An action plan released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, outlined a goal to boost national grain yields by more than 50 million tonnes by 2030 and raise the yield per mu to 420kg – an 8 per cent increase on the 390kg logged last year. A mu is a unit of measurement commonly used in China, with 15 mu equivalent to one hectare and roughly six mu equalling one acre.

It also set a target for total sown grain areas of about 1.75 billion mu (288.3 million acres), and 1.45 billion mu for the sown area of cereals. Both are slightly lower than the 1.78 billion mu and 1.5 billion mu respectively recorded in 2023.

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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?

“With tightening constraints on China’s natural resources and growing demand driven by upgrades of resident food structures, the tight balance between grain supply and demand will persist in the long term,” an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, told state news agency Xinhua on Monday.

The official said the current gap was likely to widen further in the future, making crop output all the more important.

With regular extreme weather events and a global food market susceptible to volatile geopolitical shifts, Beijing has placed greater emphasis on food security, with President Xi Jinping labelling it a “national priority”.

China has undertaken a full-bore effort to diversify its imports and boost domestic output to reduce overreliance on grains which are primarily grown overseas, such as soybeans and corn – both of which were prioritised in the plan.

China food security: grain reigns supreme as higher yields sought from limited land

China has set out to boost grain yields in an action plan listing essential tasks for country’s drive to ensure food security Last year’s output was a national record, but authorities want improvement as arable land stagnates and gap widens with West in seed development

China has set out to boost grain yields in an action plan listing essential tasks for country’s drive to ensure food security

Last year’s output was a national record, but authorities want improvement as arable land stagnates and gap widens with West in seed development