Chinese farmers have begun to reap crops as autumn drew to a close, and the nation is expecting a good harvest this year, China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said Tuesday in a statement on its website.

The forecast is based upon higher average yields and an estimate that China's planting area for autumn crops rose by 10 million mu (about 667,000 hectares) from one year ago, said the ministry.

According to figures from the MOA, a total of 386 million mu of crops had been harvested by Sept. 27, accounting for 33.3 percent of the total.

In a break down of the harvest, 130 million mu of rice, or nearly 50 percent of the total rice planted, had been reaped, while 140 million mu of corn and 60.7 million mu of soybean were harvested, accounting for 28.5 percent and 46.5 percent of the total, respectively, said the MOA.

The ministry also arranged for 29 million sets of farm equipment to help with the autumn harvest, it said.

China's grain output reached 530.8 million tonnes in 2009, the sixth consecutive year of growth in grain yield.

In the wake of a severe drought in China's southwestern regions earlier in the year, summer grain output this year stood at 123.1 million tons, down 0.3 percent from one year ago.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2010)