China’s early-season rice output rises, The sowing area of early-season rice in China is “stable while increasing” and rice output has maintained growth, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, estimating that the total output of early-season rice in 2022 will reach 28.12 million tons, up 0.4 percent from the same period last year.
China’s early-season rice output rise, Amid China’s battle against record heat waves and drought, which have put strains on the fall harvest of the world’s most populous country, as well as rising global uncertainty, the early harvest has sent a positive signal in ensuring grain prices and stabilizing expectations, analysts said, while stressing that the impact of extreme weather conditions is “short-term and controllable.” The output prediction is based on a sampling survey of the early-season rice harvest in 10 provincial-level regions. At the national level, the total planting area for early-season rice hit 47.551 million hectares in 2022, gaining 0.4 percent year-on-year, as authorities raised the minimum purchase price, scaled up incentives for major grain production bases, and beefed up capital support, which fully stimulated farmers’ willingness to plant rice, the NBS said. The yield of early-season rice is 5,914.3 kilograms per hectare in 2022, down 0.1 percent year-on-year, due to previous low temperatures and seasonal heavy rains, according to the NBS.
China’s early-season rice output rise, “The harvest of summer grain and the stable output of early-season rice have laid a solid foundation for the full-year grain harvest, amid the global pandemic and a complicated international situation. “It provides a firm base for stabilizing the macroeconomy and maintaining economic operations at a reasonable range,” the NBS said. Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that although the output of early-season rice does not account for a large share of full-year grain production, the stable production has sent an encouraging sign for the fall harvest, one of the most important planting periods of the year. The heat waves and drought hitting southern China may affect the planting of mid-season rice and corn, but given that the region only accounts for less than 10 percent of the country’s corn output and about 25 percent of mid-season and late-season rice, it will not pose a serious threat to full-year production, Li noted. “Most drainage areas of the water-rich Yangtze River have developed mature irrigation technology, which also could mitigate losses caused by extreme weather conditions to the largest extent,” Li said, adding that as rain is expected over the next 10 days, the impact of the drought on food production is “short-term.” As Southern China has recorded its longest sustained period of high temperatures, the State Council, China’s cabinet, on Wednesday unveiled a 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) fund to help rice farmers cope with the drought. China’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs said this week that it will prioritize the task of “tackling heat and drought and ensuring fall grain crops’ harvest” with maximum efforts to reduce losses.
Source: This new is originally published by globaltimes