Companies urged to help boost agriculture

Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, said that to boost investment in the industry, the government should consider offering preferential policies such as tax cuts and reductions in transport fees for agricultural companies.

"Investments in agriculture tend to have a low return, so the government should think about ways to lower the companies' operating costs," he said.

China's grain output reached 589 million metric tons in 2012, the ninth consecutive year of increased grain harvests, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, total grain imports, including soybeans, were more than 70 million tons last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Imports of soybeans last year totaled 58.4 million tons, the ministry said.

But authorities said the rise in imports was mainly because of price differences between domestic and relatively cheaper international markets.

Tang Renjian, deputy director of the Office of the CPC Central Committee's Leading Group on Rural Work, said at the news conference: "There is still great potential for China to increase yields through technical advances to promote domestic production, especially in the country's major grain producing areas."

The nation is expected to reap a bumper grain harvest this year, a 10th consecutive grain yield increase, according to a forecast from the Center for Forecasting Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It projects this year's grain yields to increase by 7.5 million tons from last year to 597.5 million tons, with "neutral or less optimistic weather conditions and without natural disasters".

Contact the writers at jinzhu@chinadaily.com.cn and zhousiyu@chinadaily.com.cn

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