China must not let grain output decline this year, a government working group said on Tuesday, amid worries that measures to contain the ongoing coronavirus outbreak could hurt food security in the world’s most populous country, reported Reuters.
Just weeks away from the start of spring planting, the central government’s work group on managing the coronavirus ordered provinces to mobilize farmers and guarantee that planted acreage and grain output remain stable.
A lockdown on the movement of people to contain the spread of the coronavirus has raised fears that farmers will be unable to plough their fields and sow crops. Hubei province, the virus epicentre with the strictest lockdown, produced 9% of China’s rice crop in 2019.
In a statement posted on the government’s website, the group also said that regions with good growing conditions should restore double-cropping of rice, reversing recent years’ policy that had sought to target higher quality grain over quantity. It also said they should expand the planted acreage of early crop rice and reduce the amount of land left fallow.