China to further facilitate agricultural science investment

China will set up a year-on-year growing investment system to facilitate the development of science and technology on agriculture, vice agriculture minister Zhang Taolin said Sunday. The development of science and technology is key to ease the pressure on China's agriculture, especially on grain production, Zhang said at the China Yangling Modern Agriculture Forum held in Xi'an, capital of northwest Shaanxi Province. In the 2011-2015 period, China faces the enormous pressure and challenges with the surging rigid demand on grains, rising cost of agricultural production and limited land and water resources, Zhang said. China will explore new models and new systems to further increase investment and upgrade its service efficiency on agricultural production, he added. China's grain output rose 2.9 percent year-on-year to 546.61 million tonnes in 2010. And the contribution rate of the science and technology development to the country's agriculture reached 52 percent, which was higher than other factors such as land, labor and material investment. China will further increase total investment and put more into the integrated layout of investment on science and technology on agriculture, Zhang said. China's grain output is expected to reach a record high of 550 million tonnes in 2011. It would be the first time for China to record grain growth for eight consecutive years in half a century, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.