According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to 650 million tons of grain may be grown in the country this year. This is significantly more than last year’s level of 560 million tons.
At present, spring sowing has already begun in many provinces of the Celestial Empire.
Farmers strive to have time to hold it as soon as possible so as not to face abnormal heat, as happened in previous years.
Indeed, in 2022, the southern regions of the country were largely affected by high temperatures, it was the hottest summer on record since 1961.
But in the autumn I had to face, among other things, prolonged rains, which forced the sowing of winter crops to be postponed.
However, despite such unfavorable conditions, China managed to harvest more wheat and corn in 2022 than a year earlier.
A slight lag was observed only for rice. But soybeans were sown on 10 million hectares, which is a record for the last 60 years.
In total, last year the area sown with grain in China was more than 118 million hectares.
What are your plans for this year?
In 2023, farmers are trying to «work on the mistakes.» As a result, rice seedlings, for example, are almost half planted.
And fertilizers were applied by more than 80%, which is ahead of schedule when compared with the previous year.
At the same time, China produces almost all of this volume mainly for its own consumption, and this is not surprising, given the population of more than a billion people.
By the way, food security is one of the top 6 priorities set by the government for this year. To solve this problem, China is following the path of introducing new technologies into the agricultural sector.
For example, it mechanizes agriculture, invests in seed production. Many grain producers in China use, for example, automatic harvesters, and drone technology is increasingly being used, for example, with the help of which it is possible to monitor the status of crops in the fields.
The state uses various methods to support farmers.
For example, it is planned to increase the minimum purchase prices for them, which will allow them to slightly increase their margins.
In addition, state subsidies for grain remain. In general, subsidies are received by those farms that have shown the best results.
For example, in 2021, the regions of China that were among the leaders in grain production received about $400 million.
