This Day, That Year

Item from March 17, 1999, in China Daily: Farmers from Fotang in Zhejiang's Yiwu county buy high-yield paddy rice seeds. With spring planting looming, the China Paddy Rice Research Institute took several paddy rice varieties to the farmers. High-yield crops are expected to boost China's grain output by 4 million tons this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

In a country that has long held that "humanity's most fundamental relationship is with what we eat", grain production has been always encouraged and supported by the government.

While grain output had grown for the 11th year in a row to hit 607 million metric tons in 2014, the central authorities have pledged to ensure that the nation's "rice bowl" is firmly held in its own hands, through efforts that include the planting of "super hybrid rice" like those handled by the farmer in Niuxing village, Hunan province, in the above photo taken in May 2014.