CHINA must push forward with modernizing agricultural technology as it faces increasing difficulty in meeting local food demand, Premier Wen Jiabao said in a recent essay published yesterday.

    “The fundamental way out is to enhance the construction of modern agriculture to boost the complex agricultural productivity continuously,” Wen said in an essay released by the country’s influential magazine Qiushi, or Seeking Truth.

    The essay, which echoes China's annual white paper on agriculture to be released soon said the country must “give agricultural technology a more prominent status,” reflecting the government’s concerns about its ability to realize persistent and stable development of the sector.

    The agricultural sector faces challenges as demand for farm products grow alongside an expanding population and food’s use for industrial purposes, while a shortage of land and water resources, rising production cost, reduced labor as well as environmental pollution threatens the sector, Wen said.

    Meanwhile, changes in global agricultural output, volatile crude prices, capital flows from speculation and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates will also significantly affect China’s agricultural supply and demand as well as prices, according to the essay published on the magazine’s Web site.

    There is no bargain in protecting the cultivated land, which is being occupied for other purposes at millions of mu each year, and the central government will further develop water conservation in agriculture, said the essay.

    China will promote agricultural technology innovation, seed cultivation, mechanization in agriculture, and further increase subsidies in the sector, especially for grain production, Wen added.

    “Importing some agricultural products is essential for easing local shortages and guaranteeing market supply, but the total amount must be put under control,” it said.

    In a country with a population of more than 1 billion people, the principle of meeting food demand basically with local supply cannot be changed, he said.

    The Central Government estimates that China's national grain consumption will go beyond 572.5 million tons by 2020. Its grain output reached a record high of 571.21 million tons last year, up 4.5 percent year on year, the eighth year of growth in a row.

    Although China is largely self sufficient in wheat and rice production, the country's staple food, its soybeans and corn tell a different story.

    China, self sufficient in soybeans just a decade ago, is now the world's top buyer of the crop, taking around 60 percent of global traded supply.(SD-Agencies)

    Last year, the country also returned to importing corn after years of blocking foreign grain, buying 1.57 million tones, up 18 times from the previous year because domestic production could not keep up with demand. The country is expected to triple corn purchases this crop year.