A senior Chinese official said Sunday that China has achieved another year of bumper harvest in 2018 with grain output remaining at a high level of 657.9 million tons, albeit down 0.6 percent from 2017.
Securing the country's food always remains a top priority of the ministry, and efforts cannot be slackened, said Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs at a work conference.
Han said the country will move to produce at least 600 million tons of grain in 2019.
The country also vowed to keep its grain sown area stable at 1.65 billion mu or 110 million hectares next year, the
China has achieved another year of bumper harvest in 2018 with grain output remaining at a high level of 657.9 million tons, albeit down 0.6 percent from 2017.
Han said the country will beef up supportive policies to ensure grain production, enhance efforts on disaster relief and plant disease prevention and treatment as well as pest control.
To boost grain production, the country aims to cultivate 800 million mu of high-standard farmland by 2020, he said.
The minister reaffirmed China's commitment to opening up the country's agriculture sector to the outside world, as it had pledged to the World Trade Organization. China joined the WTO in 2001.
From 2001-2017, China's farm produce trade rose from 27.9 billion U.S. dollars to 201.39 billion dollars, ranking second largest in the world.
In 2017, China recorded a deficit of 50.33 billion dollars in farm produce trade, with 75.53 billion dollars of exports and 125.86 billion dollars of imports.
China will continue to loosen market entry access and improve the business environment for foreign investors. It will also help build technology promotion centers and send training experts to less-developed nations.
In the meantime, Chinese farmers saw their income continue to grow rapidly in 2018 with an expected growth of 14,600 yuan, edging up 6.5% year on year.
Under the background of increasing macroeconomic downward pressure and steady economic growth, the farmers' income has maintained steady growth.
In 2018, new industries such as leisure agriculture and rural tourism emerged to be new growth engines to farmers' operating income. In addition, the minimum standard for basic pensions for urban and rural residents in the country is raised to 88 yuan per person per month. The further improvement of the rural social security system has steadily increased the transferred income of the farmers.
（source:ourjiangsu.com）
