China to have a bumper harvest of summer grain: official

China is to have a bumper harvest of summer grain to enhance food self-sufficiency amid growing global food prices due to the Ukraine crisis, according to agricultural authorities.

About 80 percent of grain in southwest China has been harvested, while harvesting of the grain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River has started, according to Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOA).

The grain in Huang-Huai-Hai region, which accounts for three-quarters of the national summer grain output, is about to mature as well.

Despite challenges from COVID-19 and delayed planting of winter wheat in multiple places, a bumper harvest of summer grain will be achieved due to effective policy support, according to Zhu Enlin, deputy head of the MOA's Department of Crop Production.

The central government has allocated over 6 billion yuan ($900 million), an unprecedented amount, to summer grain production this year, and has allocated 800 million yuan of special funding to increase and support green production of grain.

The MOA has warned against a “one-size-fits-all” approach in implementing COVID-19 control measures in different rural regions, and emphasized that no field can be missed as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"Judging from the agricultural conditions in China, the transformation of the seedling situation of summer wheat is better than expected, and there is still a foundation for winning a bumper harvest," said Pan Wenbo, an official with the MOA.

The country imported 164.54 million tonnes of grain in 2021, which is equivalent to 24 percent of the total grain output, according to customs data.

China has set a goal of 650 billion kilograms for total grain output in 2022.