China Expands Acreage For High Yield Rice

In order to produce more food for its growing population, China has decided to expanded the acreage of super high yield rice by almost 14 % to 5.33 million hectares this year.

China plans to speed up cultivation of new super rice varieties in the next 15 years to raise rice yields to 13.5 MT a hectare as early as possible.

The Chinese government started the "super rice" project in 1996 to improve the production and quality of rice, which accounts for 40 % of the country's total grain consumption and is the staple food of more than 60 % of its 1.3 billion population.