China's largest grain-producing province sees bumper harvest this year

HARBIN -- Grain production in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, known as the country's "grain barn," reached about 77.88 billion kilograms in 2023, accounting for 11.2 percent of the country's total, official data showed on Monday.

Heilongjiang's annual grain output has ranked first in the country for 14 consecutive years, with an output growth of 252 million kilograms from last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Its crop planting area totaled 14.74 million hectares, accounting for 12.4 percent of the country's total.

Flooding affected some crops in summer, but the proportion of affected crop acreage was rather small, thus limiting the damages. The harvest resulted from crops experiencing above-average growth compared to previous years, according to the provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.

Farmers will earn more this year, thanks to the harvest and rise in rice prices, noted Liu Chun, chairman of the Northeast Paddy Field Modern Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, based in the city of Fujin.