China's 12 provinces will start to raise grain output by sowing 60-million-mu (4 million hectares) of hybrid rice this year to halt the fall in per-hectare yield.

Vice Minister Zhang Baowen of Agriculture made the remark Thursday at a national working conference. The twelve participating areas are Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Sichuan, Chongqing, Jilin and Liaoning.

Experts estimate that if the per-mu yield can increase about 60 kilograms, "super rice," as the plant is referred to as in China, will contribute a 6.5-billion-kilogram increase to the total grain output.

Rice is a staple food for more than 60 percent of China's population and accounts for 40 percent of the country's total grain consumption. The concept of hybrid rice was first set forth by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines.

China is a leader in "super rice" research, with more than 20 super rice strains cultivated. According to a plan of the Ministryof Agriculture, by the end of 2010, the country will try to cover 30 percent of the total rice acreage with "super rice."

China's total rice output has been falling from 1999 to 2003, along with a drop in the per-hectare yield of rice paddies.

"Therefore, growing rice output will be of vital significance to safeguarding the grain security of China and of the world at large," said Cheng Shihua, head of the China Rice Research Institute. 

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2005)