China’s grain harvest hits record high amid food security drive, helped by 16% increase from Xinjiang

Name: Farmers in China rush to harvest wheat after heavy rains damage crops
Uploaded: 2023-12-11T09:11:17.000Z
Duration: 2 min 22 s
Description: Farmers in China rush to harvest wheat after heavy rains damage crops

China produced 695.41 million tonnes of grain in 2023, marking a 1.3 per cent increase from last year

The western region of Xinjiang, which traditionally produces cotton, saw growth of over 16 per cent in terms of planting area and output compared with last year

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Beijing has placed an increasing emphasis on food security amid worsening climate change and an uncertain global market. Photo: AFP

Mandy Zuoin Shanghai

Published: 5:11pm, 11 Dec 2023

China’s grain output increased to a record high again this year amid Beijing’s agricultural push that has seen growing areas expanded in a western region traditionally known for its cotton production.

The world’s biggest crop producer and consumer produced 695.41 million tonnes of grain in 2023, marking a 1.3 per cent increase from last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The bumper grain harvest was, according to Wang Guirong, director of the Rural Affairs Department at the NBS, the result of local government efforts to tackle extreme weather events, including serious flooding in the north and northeast during the summer and unusual heavy rains that battered large areas of wheat in central China in the spring.

China’s grain output has climbed over the past two decades, and has remained above 650 million tonnes for the last nine years since 2015.

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Farmers in China rush to harvest wheat after heavy rains damage crops

Beijing’s increasing emphasis on food security amid worsening climate change and an uncertain global market, though, has pushed local governments to further keep land available for farming and improve agricultural yields.