Farmers drive agricultural machines and manipulate drones for spring plowing and prevention of wheat pests and diseases in a field in Rongcheng, East China's Shandong Province on February 23, 2023. China will strive to keep annual grain production over 650 billion kilograms this year, and develop modern agriculture infrastructure. Photo: cnsphoto

China projects its 2023 grain output at 650 million tons, basically the same level with 2022, which will be the ninth year that grain output benchmark will be met since 2015. 

Jiao Shanwei, editor-in-chief of industry news website cngrain.com, told the Global Times on Sunday that the grain output goal was announced, based on experiences in previous years, which can satisfy the domestic demand. 

The grain output goal, along with other economic development targets, was unveiled in the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang during the first session of the 14th National People's Congress which opened on Sunday. 

The Government Work Report listed the food security as one of six key government jobs in 2023. China vowed to keep total grain acreage at a stable level and to launch a new drive to increase grain production by 50 million tons. 

In addition, authorities will improve contingency plans for ensuring the provision of agricultural supplies at stable prices, and ramp up the development of high-standard crop-land, facilities for irrigation and water conservancy, and other agricultural infrastructure. Seed industry and agricultural science, technology and equipment will be invigorated, the Government Work Report showed. 

In 2022, China's overall grain output reached 685 million tons, an increase of 3.7 million tons over 2021, which showed strong resilience despite the pandemic. 

In the past five years, China kept stabilizing and increasing gain planting area, adding 30.4 million hectares of high-standard cropland. The rate of mechanization in crops plowing, planting, and harvesting increased from 67 percent to 73 percent.

Global Times