China has finished early rice harvest, demonstrating an evident trend of production growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the rain which triggered disasters in southern China, according to a CCTV news clip, citing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA).
The area of early rice production has increased by more than 4.7 million mu (313,333 hectares) on the same period last year, reversing the downward trend seen for seven consecutive years. The increased planting area can produce more than 1.5 billion kilograms of early rice, laying a solid foundation for a bumper harvest, according to calculations, said MARA.
Agricultural research shows that early rice growth this year is better than that of the previous year in the early growth stage. Although some areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River suffered from severe flooding in the late growth period, resulting in a decline of rice yield, major rice producing provinces, such as Guangdong and Guangxi, saw a significant increase in early rice output. Overall, this suggests the floods have had limited impact on Chinese early rice output, said MARA.
Notably, China further optimized its early rice production structure this year. Various regions have further advanced structural reforms on the agricultural supply side and developed high-quality early rice that is in short supply. The area of high-quality early rice accounted for 46.2 percent of total early rice area, up two percentage points on the previous year, MARA said.
Liu Lihua, deputy director of the ministry’s crop production said that although the early rice harvest has suffered from severe flooding this year, there is still a trend of increasing production, adding that early rice is an important part of grain rationing and its bumper harvest plays an important role in stabilizing prices.
Han Changfu, minister of MARA, noted that China will spare no efforts in guaranteeing production of autumn grains and pay close attention to various agricultural production tasks for a bumper harvest throughout the year, adding that the positive situation for agricultural and rural development will be consolidated to provide support for the overall stability of economic and social development.
A farmer drives a no-till planter to seed corns in fields at Lishu County of Siping City, northeast China’s Jilin Province, May 7, 2020. The rate of comprehensive mechanization in ploughing, sowing and harvesting for main crops in the province is expected to exceed 90 percent by the end of 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Nan)
