BEIJING, China (Reuters) – China says it plans to take steps to gain control of crop breeding in the country.
The nation’s cabinet, called the State Council, said the world’s largest grain producer aims to breed new seeds using China’s own biotechnology and set up large seed-breeding companies by 2020.
Scientists said the move may work against the expansion plans of foreign companies that have taken a large share of China’s corn seed market.
“The country will focus development on hybrid rice and corn, particularly corn, where Pioneer already has a large share of the market and domestic seed firms are failing to compete,” said a Chinese seed breeding scientist.
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“The government’s concerns are grain security and how to boost farmers’ incomes, while foreign companies will increase seed prices after they have occupied the market.”
DuPont, which owns Pioneer Hi-Bred, one of the world’s largest agricultural seed companies, sees China as a particular opportunity for expansion.
Its Xianyu variety is widely planted in northeastern and northern China.
Many Chinese seed companies are small and inefficient. As well, the domestic seed industry was hit with scandals in the 1990s when fake seeds were sold and farmers harvested nothing.
Domestic seed companies such as Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co. Ltd., set up by Yuan Longping, the father of China’s first hybrid rice strain, may get more support from Beijing.
Scientists said genetically modified varieties will not be a priority for Beijing for at least five years because of a long approval process and public debate over the safety of GM food.
“(Development of ) non-GMO seeds will still play a key role in boosting grain production in the coming five years,” said Huang Dafang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ Biotechnology Research Institute.
“GMO technology is a long-term national strategy and not for this or the next five-year plan,” Huang said.
China approved the use of GM rice and corn in late 2009, opening the door for commercial production as soon as next year.
The government has also agreed to spend $9.5 billion by 2013 to reinforce 21,300 small and medium-sized reservoirs. Another 25,000 reservoirs would be repaired before 2015.
The spending plan is part of the country’s efforts to combat increasingly frequent natural disasters such as floods and drought.
A majority of the nation’s existing reservoirs have had problems in recent decades that have severely affected flood-control efforts.
