Does a bumper harvest mean food security?
Answers
Explanation:
China recorded a bumper harvest this year. Yet agricultural problems remain and are clouding the world's most populous country, prompting the government to take measures to beef up food security.
China's grain output this summer, mostly wheat, hit a record high of 132 million tonnes, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
The production of maize, harvested in autumn, is expected to hit a record high of 215 million tonnes, according to the State Administration of Grain (SAG).
The country's grain output rose 3.2 percent year on year to hit 589.57 million tonnes in 2012, marking the ninth consecutive year of growth, according to NBS data.H Despite the record harvests, China's agriculture faces chronic problems.
The amount of arable land is shrinking amid the country's urbanization drive. There is water and land pollution due to excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. Also, there is a large amount of waste in the way grain is stored, experts argue.