- China remains on track for a strong grain harvest despite severe weather disruptions.
- Hubei relied on rapid disaster-response measures to limit crop losses.
- Officials are expressing confidence in meeting annual food security goals.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ (MARA) signalled its confidence at a press conference on September 9, which was held ahead of the upcoming Farmers’ Harvest Festival.
Director of MARA’s Department of Market and Information Technology, Lei Liugong, announced that grain production has withstood all weather-related challenges this year to deliver strong results.
“This year, despite adverse effects such as torrential rains and floods, strong typhoons, and localised high temperatures and droughts, summer grain output reached 150.75m tonnes, exceeding 150m tonnes for the first time.
“Early rice has remained stable at over 28m tonnes for six consecutive years, indicating another bumper harvest season. Autumn grain acreage has increased, and the overall growth is normal, laying a solid foundation for a bumper harvest throughout the year.”
These results come as China enters the first year of its 15th Five-Year Plan, with food security continuing to be a central policy priority.
Minimise losses, maximise preservation
Grain farmers were able to overcome this year’s difficult harvest conditions with the help of mechanisation and post-harvest infrastructure, highlighted Du Haiyang, mayor of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province.
Hubei is one of China’s most important agricultural provinces and is positioned as one of China’s 13 major grain-producing provinces.
“We have always prioritised stabilising grain production as the top priority in our agricultural work, striving to grow more grain and grow better grain, contributing more to ensuring national food security,” said Du.
“We made every effort to safeguard the bottom line of disaster prevention and ensure a bumper harvest. We resolutely fought a proactive battle against agricultural disasters.”
Xiangyang faced continuous rainy conditions during the summer harvest, but through large-scale mobilisation of harvesting and drying equipment, it was able to minimise losses and secure the crop, said Du.
“With strong support from all sides, 36,000 agricultural machines and over 40,000 operators worked day and night to harvest the crops. 479 drying points and 1,658 dryers operated at full capacity, compressing the usual 10-day harvest period to three days.”
Du also attributed the city’s grain output resilience to maintaining planting areas, investments in high-standard farmland and water infrastructure, and technology-driven efforts to increase yields and expand large-scale farming.
Overall, the total summer grain output reached 2.4m tonnes, an increase of 1,560 tonnes compared to the previous last year.
Farmers income improves
Alongside production gains, officials pointed to continued growth in rural incomes as another indicator of progress in the agricultural sector.
According to Lei, rural residents’ per-capita disposable income reached RMB12,699 (US$1,892) in the first half of 2026.
This represented a year-on-year increase of 5.5 per cent, which was 2.1 percentage points faster than the growth recorded among urban residents.
“Regular assistance will be integrated into the overall implementation of the rural revitalisation strategy, continuously consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation, and firmly safeguarding the bottom line of preventing large-scale relapse into poverty,” said Lei.
