(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-27 06:56

Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai Wednesday warned of growing pressure to meet the country's food demand, despite four consecutive years of bumper harvests.

Sun Zhengcai

Sun told a regular session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing that grain output is expected to exceed 500 million tons this year, an output initially targeted for 2010.

The average farmer's annual income is also expected to exceed 4,000 yuan ($545) this year, the fourth consecutive increase of more than 6 percent.

However, Sun warned of the difficulties in meeting the soaring demand for food.

Along with increasing urbanization and population growth, more and more people in rural areas are moving to cities and becoming consumers, rather than producers, of agricultural products, he said.

"The demand for agricultural products, especially vegetable oil, meat, eggs and milk, will continue to increase rapidly," he said.

Adding to the problem is the shrinking arable land bank, scarce water resources and climate change, Sun said.

He said the authorities are unlikely to allow food production to be boosted through the use of more chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as more attention is now being paid to product quality and environmental protection.

At the same time, the country's food supply and demand is susceptible to global market mechanisms, he said.

The use of crops to develop bio-fuels has driven up the price of farm products, in turn affecting domestic prices, Sun said.

He also said it is difficult to maintain the growth of farmers' incomes, because of their increasing operational costs and limited opportunities to develop additional sources of income.

He said China's agricultural industry, which is still reliant on traditional farming methods, is in dire need of modernization.

Just 30 percent of the research undertaken in the sector has been applied, much lower than in developed countries, Sun said.