Much Room for Crop Yield Improvement

By CnAgri2013-02-04 10:51:50 Print From 2007 to 2012, China’s farm product imports, exports and trade deficit went up from $41.2 billion, $36.6 billion and $4.6 billion to $111.5 billion, $62.59 billion and $48.91 billion respectively, suggesting a compound annual growth rate of 22%, 11.3% and 60.4% respectively.
 
Despite increased grain production for nine consecutive years, the yield of wheat, corn, paddy and soybeans stayed low at 4,837kg/hectare, 5,748kg/hectare, 6,687kg/hectare and 1,793kg/hectare respectively in 2011, representing a compound annual growth rate of 1.19%, 0.67%, 0.38% and –0.68% respectively.
 
China’s grain yield is generally below the international advanced level by 20 ~ 40%. Farm production is not only restrained by natural resources but also by backward agricultural productivity. An important way to enhance agricultural productivity is to develop seed industry and biological technology. For this reason, the State Council issued Modern Crop Seed Industry’s Development Plan in December of 2012.

 

From “China Grains Market Weekly Report”