A farmer carries a pack of paddies in apaddyfield at Guxu Village in Guzhai Mulam Nationality Township of Liucheng County, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 16, 2010. The local farmers are busy reaping grains in fine weather in recent days to ensure a harvest despite drought this summer. [Xinhua]

The Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday it is confident of a good harvest nationwide, despite torrential rains and drought that have hit some grain-growing areas hard this year.

The area planted with autumn grains, including corns, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the country's total grain output, is expected to reach 77.4 million hectares this year, about 0.88 million hectares more than last year, according to statistics from the ministry.

"Overall, the crops are growing well so far," said Chen Mengshan, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture.

Despite the fact that extreme weather conditions, including lower temperatures and heavy snow, hit China this spring, the volume of grain harvested this summer hit 123.1 million tons. That total included 108.8 million tons of winter wheat. The size of the harvest made this year the seventh consecutive one to record an increase since 2003, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

"All these records have laid a solid foundation to achieve a good harvest for the whole year," Chen said.

By Aug 19, a total of 10.9 million hectares of crops nationwide had been damaged by severe floods and typhoons, Chen said during Friday's briefing.

"Excessive rainfall caused some late rice to appear to have retarded growth in the south. Also, it is common to see a 10-day delay for planting the late rice this year, which will put the crops under threat from future cold weather, diseases and insect pests," he said.

Lu Bu, a researcher from the institute of agriculture resources and regional planning at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said some areas hit by severe flooding, such as in Sichuan, Guangxi, and Jilin, are likely to see localized falls in output this year.

In August, the central government set up a special fund of 1,100 million yuan (US$162 million) to support the planting of autumn grains in major rice-producing areas in the south and northeast China.

"Now, all of the fund has been allocated and will be mainly used for subsidizing local farmers to increase fertilizer dosages and eliminate plant diseases and insect pests," Chen said.

To deal with future plant diseases and insect pests, which are likely to increase this year because of the flooding, the ministry strengthened its efforts in organizing professional contingents to help farmers use pesticides, he added.

"As many as 148,604 contingents are in operation in China, covering 2.48 million hectares," he said.

Analyst said that although China's grain output has not been greatly threatened this year, the country's agricultural industry may face increasing risks in future if more natural disasters occur.

"The government should allocate more resources to infrastructure construction and improving the forecast system for natural disasters in rural areas," Lu said.

(China Daily August 21, 2010)