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China's annual white paper on agriculture will focus on technology to boost food output rather than the farm income or rural development issues of previous years, underlining the country's concerns about its ability to feed itself. The world's most populous country faces pressure from rising food demand, compounded by weak agricultural infrastructure, backward technology and low mechanisation that contribute to low farm yields.
China, self sufficient in soybeans just ten years ago, is now the world's top buyer of the crop, taking around 60 percent of global traded supply. Confronted by the challenge of feeding a fifth of the world's population with less than 9 percent of the planet's arable land, China needs to embrace technology to ensure its long-term food supply. The white paper, which will set agricultural policy guidelines for 2012, will be pushing for technology innovation and developing modern agriculture, the Southern Daily newspaper quoted Zhang Laiwu, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, as saying.
"It would be the first time that (the white paper) focuses on agricultural technology, which reflects that China's agriculture must seek a way out through improving land unit yields, labour productivity as well as resources utilisation," said Lan Haitao, a researcher with the industrial institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic policy setting body. "The 2012 (white paper) will be the strategic breakthrough in pushing forward China's modern agriculture."
Agriculture experts expect the document to set guidelines on seed cultivation and on implementing a programme of promoting the application of genetically-modified technology that was first introduced in 2008. They also expect the 2012 white paper to focus on research and development of agricultural technology.
In previous years, the white paper has focused on issues such as rural development, farmers' income, land transfer issues and water conservation. The central government estimates that China's national grain consumption will reach 572.5 million tonnes by 2020. Although China is largely self sufficient in wheat production, its soybeans and corn tell a different story.
Zeng Liying, a deputy chief of the State Administration of Grain, said over the weekend that although China is basically balanced in overall supply and demand of grain, the shortage in certain varieties is a concern. "Corn's consumption grows rapidly and the supply is tightening, while the shortage in soybean and vegetable oil will be expanding, relying on overseas supply over the long run," she said.
In 2010, China returned to importing corn in earnest after years of blocking foreign grain, buying a record 1.57 million tonnes, up 18 times from the previous year because domestic production couldn't keep up with demand. The country is expected to triple corn purchases this crop year. Likewise, rice imports are also expected to increase.
China's grain output reached a record high of 571.21 million tonnes last year, up 4.5 percent on year, the eighth year of growth in a row. "China's agricultural production growth lags far behind the country's overall economic growth, so it is a bottleneck for the country's further development," said Ma Wenfeng, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant Ltd. Ma said new technologies were necessary to increase the efficiency in industrial processing of grains, as well as breeding new seeds to meet grain's food and industrial demand.

Copyright Reuters, 2012

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