Water shortage raises need for more food imports: Official

China should increase food imports to spare more of its scarce water supplies for energy production, Reuters reported, citing Mu Guangfeng, the head of the environment impact assessment office at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Mu told a conference on Monday that China should open up further to overseas food supplies and put stricter limits on the consumption of water for agriculture in areas like Xinjiang. He said China, the world’s top manufacturing nation, sends thousands of ships to overseas ports and many of them return empty. Filling them with grain would be an ideal solution.