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Dannie Peng

China’s agriculture sector needs more advanced technology and innovation to boost yields and improve food security – not more farmland and crops, according to a rural policy expert.
The remarks came after a state media investigation alleged that officials in central China had inflated the size of mandatory rice crops to hit their targets.
CCTV programme Focus Report aired its investigation on July 14, claiming officials in Jianghua Yao – a county in Yongzhou, Hunan province – had misreported the extent of farmland used for growing rice.
It said officials claimed to have met their 2024 target by reporting 390,000 mu (26,000 hectares) of rice paddies had been planted in the county.
But the actual size of the paddy fields that year was far smaller at 238,000 mu (15,866 hectares), according to the report.
It labelled the practice “paper farming”, saying some of the crops existed only on paper.


Food security is a top priority for Beijing and it wants to reduce the country’s reliance on imported agricultural products.
There has been a push to expand farmland, with targets set for staple crops such as rice, wheat and maize.
The country has also invested heavily in modernising agriculture and tech innovation in areas such as seed biotechnology and machinery to boost crop yields.
Drone footage in the CCTV report showed rice growing along roads to hide the more lucrative cash crops – including monk fruit, tobacco, taro and vegetables – being cultivated further away from the road.
A day after the report aired, the Yongzhou municipal government called for a thorough investigation into the allegations, with officials to be held accountable for any fraud or misuse of farmland.
Farming in China is becoming more hi-tech and data-driven, including through the use of the BeiDou satellite navigation system along with drones.
More than 2.7 million BeiDou terminals are used in the agricultural sector to assist with everything from ploughing, sowing and field management to harvesting and transport, according to a May report in official newspaper People’s Daily.
For example, drones equipped with the BeiDou system can be used to survey crops and spray pesticide where it is needed.
Zheng Linyi, a researcher at the China Academy for Rural Development at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, said this technology could also be used to identify “paper farming” cases and penalise offenders.
But he said that would not address the main problem – encouraging farmers to plant more rice when returns on the crop were so low.
The state television report also stirred debate online over the difficulty of growing rice in hilly terrain to meet targets, with some areas simply not suited for mechanised farming of crops such as rice, double cropping seen as too labour-intensive, and little financial incentive to grow the grain.
“Policymakers need to spend more time out in the fields,” Yongzhou resident Liu Qiu wrote on social media.
In Jianghua, some 320,000 mu of land has been designated as basic farmland. The county’s target is 390,000 mu for rice production through double cropping, meaning two crops are grown on the same land in the same year.
But according to the report, some farmers in the county switched to higher-yield crops and cadres then falsified the records to show the targets had been met or even exceeded. It said the officials had also told farmers to plant rice along roads so the other crops would not be seen by inspectors.

Zheng said a different approach was needed on food security.
“Future measures should not focus on forcing farmers to grow grains,” he said.
“Instead, they should concentrate on developing modern agriculture and raising economic returns through innovation, including institutional reform.”
Zheng noted that China’s grain output was increasing while its population was in a period of negative growth.
He said the country “need not be too anxious” about staple grain security but should instead cater to diversifying dietary demands.
China’s grain production has grown by an average of more than 2 per cent a year in the past four decades, outpacing population growth.
These gains have been partly driven by investment in technology and advances in plant breeding and farming machinery.
One example is the development of a high-yield hybrid rice that replicates itself, which has potential to double the world’s rice production, according to some industry estimates.
Genetically modified salt-tolerant rice is also being cultivated in the arid deserts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the far west, where the crop is not usually grown.


China’s grain output has, over the past 40 years, mainly expanded by boosting yields rather than just extending the planting area, according to Huang Jikun, a professor at Peking University’s School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences.
He told a forum in 2023 that agricultural progress “relies on markets, institutions and technology” and more R&D spending was needed.
“A major portion of past growth stemmed from technological progress,” he said, adding that “while investment in agricultural science and technology is rising, it remains far from adequate”.


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Expert calls for a change in approach after state media report alleged county officials misreported the size of rice fields to meet targets


Expert calls for a change in approach after state media report alleged county officials misreported the size of rice fields to meet targets.


CCTV

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Food security: can drones and BeiDou put an end to ‘paper farming’ in China?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Expert calls for a change in approach after state media report alleged county officials misreported the size of rice fields to meet targets

Expert calls for a change in approach after state media report alleged county officials misreported the size of rice fields to meet targets