BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China will accelerate the breeding of new soybean and corn varieties and prioritize yield improvements for key grains and oil crops as part of broad efforts to ensure food security.
The focus will be on five key crops — corn, rice, wheat, soybeans and rapeseed — and the better use and co-ordination of good land, high quality seeds, machinery and farming practices, the agriculture ministry said.
It aims to increase grain production by 50 million tonnes by 2030, which would be a seven per cent increase over last year’s record grain harvest.
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Industry thinks China’s rapeseed crop is way smaller than the official government estimate. The country’s canola imports will also be down, so there will be a lot of unmet demand.
In 2024, China’s total grain production reached an all-time high of 706.5 million tonnes, 1.6 per cent higher than 695.41 million tonnes in 2023.
The agriculture ministry also called for co-ordinated funding to support the efforts to boost yields and help reduce China’s reliance on imports to ensure food security for its 1.4 billion people.
