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Chinese government highlights seed industry development in 2010
BEIJING, Feb 01, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) --
The Chinese government's
first policy document of this year provides detailed guidance for the
development of the domestic seed industry, suggesting the government
will be paying a lot of attention to the industry.
By 2009, China had reaped bumper harvest for six years
running. However, as land area is limited, it has become harder and
harder to maintain grain output growth. Lifting grain yield is key to
meeting increasing demand.
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) show
that high-quality seed contributes more than 36 percent to the grain
output increase.
According to the document, the government will step up
efforts to research and industrialize new genetically modified
products in a bid to promote development of seed industry in the
future.
In December of last year, the MoA issued safety
certificates for genetically modified rice and corn. On January 11 of
2010, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences set its research
focus on genetically modified products for the year.
Currently, China has not yet widely used genetically
modified products in planting of major grain crops such as wheat,
corn, rice and soybean.
The government also proposed in the document to
accelerate seed industry consolidation through company merger and
acquisition, and in the meantime encourage seed companies to
cooperate with research institutes. It aims to develop large seed
businesses with core competitiveness.
China currently has about 7,000 seed companies, with the
top 10 firms only accounting for an about 20 percent market share.
(Edited by Liu Xiaoyun, liuxy08@xinhua.org)
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