Bumper crop expected from summer harvest

China is expected to see another bumper grain harvest as machine harvesting proceeds across the nation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said recently.

As of Saturday, 2.53 million hectares of winter wheat have been harvested across the country, with daily capacity of 452,000 hectares. The provinces of Sichuan and Hubei are in the final stage of harvesting, Henan and Anhui have made 10 percent progress, and others have gradually started to harvest, the ministry said.

Large-scale machine harvesting indicates wheat production has increased in major grain producing areas.

The winter grain harvest is the first season of the annual grain output. At present, 97 percent of winter wheat nationwide needs to be harvested by agricultural machinery, according to the ministry's department of agricultural mechanization.

China has over 600,000 wheat harvesters, which basically meet the demand for the machinery required.

To ensure grain production remains within COVID-19 containment measures, the ministry has cooperated with health and transportation authorities to ensure a smooth harvest.

More than 2,600 green channels have been opened for transporting agricultural machinery to speed up the process.