International cooperation can solve agricultural challenges

China can intensify international cooperation in agriculture to solve challenges facing its food security, a vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said on Friday.

With an annual production of crops amounting to more than 600 million metric tons, Chinese have enough to eat, but the agricultural sector in general faces challenges such as decreasing farmland, lack of water resources, and food safety concerns caused by environmental pollution, Liu Xu said at an international conference hosted by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on Friday.

However, with China's population increasing, it is estimated that demand for food will grow at an annual rate of at least 1 percent for the next 20 years, he said.