China's annual postharvest grain losses are estimated at over 35 billion kilograms, the People's Daily reported on Wednesday.
The grains losses each year including on-farm waste and along the supply chain during storage, transportation and processing could feed 200 million people a year, according to the report.
"Mechanized harvesting can save labor and energy but does lead to some waste," Li Weiquan, a farm-owner in Yicheng in Central China's Hubei Province was quoted by the People's Daily as saying, noting that about 15 kilograms of grains per mu (about 0.07 hectares) goes to waste in the mechanized process.
According to a survey conducted by the State Grain Administration, 10.2 percent of harvested grain is wasted on-farm on average in Northeast China; about 8.8 percent of grain is wasted on-farm in Northwest China.
Damage caused by rats makes up the bulk of the on-farm loses, which is due to poor storage conditions and capacity, said the report.
An official with the administration revealed that available grain storage space in Northeast China is about 25 billion kilograms less than what is needed, meaning that grain is stored in the open air in some regions.
An official from Xinfa village in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province told the media that some villagers do not have access to storage facilities, and just keep harvested grains on the ground. Such grain is likely to get damp, moldy, or damaged by the rats, contributing to losses.
As of today, China has built new grain storage facilities that are able to hold 72.5 billion kilograms, restored old storage spaces able to contain 123 billion kilograms, as well as provided nearly 10 million food storage containers to farmers across the country, dropping the food waste rate by 6 percent and saving 1.15 billion kilograms of grain.
"The food loss rate is around 0.3 percent when it is transported in smaller bags by road or rail, while that number could be reduced by half by transporting the food in bulk by road," said Ma Feng, general manager of the Henan-based Jinyun logistics company.
In recent years, food departments have promoted bulk transportation, as well as more efficient transport methods like inland ships in a bid to keep food from getting damp or moldy, reducing the waste rate by 2 percent.
According to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in December 2015,China's total grain production in 2015 was 621.4 billion kilograms.
