Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said grain production capacity was rising steadily, ensuring that China's food security situation was sound. He said grain reserves are abundant and staple agricultural produce is in sufficient supply, while food prices have remained relatively stable.
Speaking at last week's World Summit on Food Security in Rome (16 November), Hui said China's grain output has increased for five years in a row since 2004, reaching a record high of over 500 million tons in 2008.
"We expect another bumper harvest this year. For many years, China has been able to meet its own food demand on its own," he said.
However, he said Beijing is "keenly aware that China has a large population, agricultural infrastructure is weak, economic and social development in rural areas has fallen behind and there is a growing income gap between urban and rural areas".
Hui also acknowledged that the global financial crisis has heaped new pressures and challenges for China.
"Therefore, we have made clear in our response to the international financial crisis that in boosting domestic demand, rural areas have the greatest potential. For steady and relatively fast economic growth, agriculture is the foundation," he said. Improving the lives of farmers is a top priority, he added.
He Changchui, assistant director-general of the the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that China has set an example for other Asian countries by feeding 20% of the world's population with 9% of the total arable land and 6.5% of fresh water resources.
He said the Asia-Pacific region is facing a severe food security challenge due to its high population and limited resources. "But China is an exception in the region. For years the country has maintained a favorable food security situation, mainly because the Chinese government has attached great importance to agricultural development and made large-scale investment in agriculture," He said.
Earlier this month, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced that China would send 50 groups of agricultural experts to help Africa to train 2,000 specialists in agriculture, so as to improve the ability of African countries to achieve food security.
Despite relative success in grain production, China's rapidly growing demand for meat products is a more pressing issue. Pork consumption has doubled in ten years, leading China to overtake the US as the world's top pork producer.
An estimated 700 million pigs are slaughtered every year in China and fast-food chains such as McDonald's and KFC have expanded across the country.
