The recipe for China's resilient bumper grain harvest

BEIJING -- China secured another bumper grain harvest in 2022, despite the headwinds of extreme weather and COVID-19.

The country's grain output totaled about 686.53 billion kg this year, up 0.5 percent or 3.68 billion kg compared to 2021, official data showed.

This is the eighth consecutive year China has managed to reap a grain harvest of over 650 billion kg.

The bumper harvest this year is a hard-won achievement, as China experienced waves of bad weather at home and faced global grain market fluctuations.

So how have Chinese managed to "hold their rice bowls firmly in their own hands?" The following are some of the key steps China has taken to ensure food security.

-- A top-level design. Chinese authorities have always put food security high on the government agenda. Ensuring ample grain production has become an important political task for local officials, who are evaluated for their performances regarding arable land protection and expansion, as well as grain yield improvement.

-- A strong incentive. The central government continued to raise the minimum purchase price of wheat and rice this year, and maintained grain subsidy policies. A total of 40 billion yuan (about 5.74 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies, double that of 2021, were delivered to grain-growing farmers to fuel their willingness this year.

-- A timely relief. Facing a record hot summer, the central government in late August allocated relief funds worth 10 billion yuan, to help localities ease the lingering drought's impact on agricultural production and people's livelihood.

-- A solid foundation. China has been stepping up its development of high-standard farmlands, which can deliver high and stable yields despite droughts and floods, thanks to its high-level concentration and ready access to water conservancy facilities. The country has cultivated some 66.67 million hectares of such farmlands, ensuring a grain production capacity of over 500 billion kg.

-- A high-tech booster. The country's investment in modernizing agriculture has also been fruitful. High-yield seeds have contributed more than 45 percent to grain production increases. Enabled by 4,000-plus types of home-made agricultural machinery and equipment, the integrated mechanization rate of cultivation and harvesting for wheat, corn and rice tops 97 percent, 90 percent and 85 percent, respectively.