China's rural affairs head on Monday said the country's agriculture sector was "almost fully mechanised" and becoming smarter, thanks to advancements in argitech that raised productivity while ensuring food security.

The comments came as Han Jun, the minister of agriculture and rural affairs, met with reporters at the "Ministers' Corridor" on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing.

He noted that the country's food supply has been abundant over the past five years in spite of the impact from more frequent extreme-weather events.

Han said the increased supply was partly due to higher modernisation level in the agriculture sector, where 96 percent of the total variety of agricultural products were supported by agritech as part of a drive that had taken the mechanisation rate for crop cultivation, planting and harvesting to 76.6 percent.

"So we have basically realised [full] mechanisation [of the entire production process of major grain crops", and as for intelligence level improvements and digitalisation transformation, we are also progressing," he said.

Han said 300,000 drones were used to aid efforts in agricultural production last year, marking the highest number in the world, while serving farmland covering some 30.7 million hectares.

Smart harvesting, intelligent irrigation as well as AI-powered laser weeding robots were also adopted to boost production, he added.

Total grain output reached 714.9 million tonnes last year, with per capita availability exceeding 500 kilos, higher than the global average.

Supplies of meat, eggs, dairy, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables also remained ample, he said, adding that meat output surpassed 100 million tonnes for the first time while the output of aquatic products exceeded 76.56 million tonnes and vegetable production was above 800 million tonnes.

"We must ensure that we have abundant supply for the major agricultural products," Han said.

"Food security has remained top priority for the national government. We must rely on our independent food production because food security matters in terms of survival. It matters in terms of national security. That's why this is an eternal topic," he stressed.

Han also pointed to the country's "seed rejuvenation plan" that was key to securing self-sufficiency in the country's food supply.

"For the Chinese agricultural products, we have set up a 'seed library'... The first smart seed-breeding robot called Ji'er was developed.

"We also have cultivated a group of high-yielding disaster-proven varieties of seeds.

"And for our next step, we'll implement a seed rejuvenation plan in order to make breakthroughs in the varieties of seeds so that we can be independent," Han said.

He also called on the populace to reduce their oil intake and consume more beans and milk due to the dietary imbalances.

Han, who also manages the country's rural issues, added that the country has set up a nationwide monitoring system to identify households that are at risk of falling back to poverty – by using data sharing and analytical tools.


Edited by Tony Sabine