Pursuing food security, China plants confidence in farmers(2)

In a tone-setting central economic work conference earlier this month, the country vowed to try to modernize the agricultural sector by upgrading farming technologies and equipment.

Like Zhang Baohua, Sun Mingjiang enjoyed a bumper corn harvest in northeastern Heilongjiang Province this year after drought lingered through the spring and summer. His success came from irrigation droppers.

The new technology, which conserves water and electricity, brought him 700 yuan more per mu than before.

The bumper harvest called for big buyers and good prices.

Food enterprises bought 105.9 million tonnes of newly produced grain as of Nov. 25, 12 million tonnes more than in 2011, according to Ren Zhengxiao, head of the State Administration of Grain, adding that the minimum purchasing price program safeguarded farmers' interests.

China launched the minimum pricing program in 2006 to protect farmers from price volatilities, stipulating that the government will buy wheat for state reserves at a set price when market prices fall below it.

Agricultural authorities will further lift the minimum price of wheat to 112 yuan per 50 kilograms next year, up 10 yuan from 2012.

Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said the wallets of Chinese farmers have grown fat in the past nine years alongside increasing grain output.

Official data show farmers' annual per capita net income rose to 6,977 yuan in 2011 from 2,622 yuan in 2003.

To guarantee food security, China has tightened its grip on farmland, and as a result, this land did not shrink amid the country's rapid urbanization.

In 2012, China's grain planting areas totalled 116.83 billion hectares, marking a slight rise of 0.6 percent from 2011, according to official data.

But food security remains challenging, as China's agricultural sector has remained at a low level of modernization and farmers will face rising production costs and risks in coming years, said the statement.

China will make unswerving efforts to underpin the development of agriculture and rural areas, according to the statement.