The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Wednesday issued two variety certification standards at the national level for genetically modified (GM) crops, including soybeans and corn, in what industry observers said a significant step in China s legalization of GM crops as the country seeks to further bolster its food security.
Editor’s Note:
As a country with a population of approximately 1.4 billion, China attaches great importance to food security.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has pushed up food and fertilizer prices, and some impacts on global grain supplies have been witnessed. Though China has assured its food security, some foreign media outlets took this opportunity to falsely claim that China will face grain shortages, to stoke anxiety and blame China for the tension in Ukraine.
Who is hyping China’s supposed food issue? Are China’s grain production and supplies safe enough? How will China guarantee its food supply? The Global Times will present three investigative reports in the coming days. This is the second installment.
Progress in seeds, yields cultivate food security By WANG XIAODONG in Beijing and MA ZHIPING in Haikou | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-01-25 07:12 Share SHI YU/CHINA DAILY
In 1963, when Cheng Xiangwen was assigned to work as a seed cultivation technician at a farm in Henan province s Xunxian county, corn production in the area was just above 750 kilograms per hectare.
Even though the farmers worked hard, they could not harvest enough corn, a food staple, to feed their families due to low yields. The situation hit home with Cheng, who had just graduated from vocational school. After that, I made up my mind to cultivate new corn varieties so the land would produce more grain, said 84-year-old Cheng, chief expert in corn cultivation at the Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Henan.
China moves on to tackle the chips for agriculture
Chu Daye Published: Dec 30, 2020 11:51 PM Updated: Dec 30, 2020 11:53 PM
Farmers in Jiujiang, East China s Jiangxi Province harvest Gardenia jasminoides Ellis at a local traditional Chinese medicine base. Photo: IC
An improving domestic seed industry will become a key to addressing many of the agricultural problems China has to face today, analysts said on Wednesday, as China vowed to tackle core bottlenecks in agricultural technologies in its new stage of rural development, vowing to turn the table in the seed industry to maintain grain security after a major policy meeting closed in Beijing on Tuesday.