By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-20 09:42

Agriculture authorities will support the production of major farm products to ensure food security and offset the effects of the recent price hikes for commodities, officials said.

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The price hikes have come in response to increases in the prices of raw materials at home and a shift in demand in both the domestic and international markets, Chen Mengshan, director of the crop management department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said.

"We will enforce policies to support the production of grain and edible oil to ensure a stable supply of staple agricultural products," Chen was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying last week.

"We have launched a series of measures to better allocate land resources and increase yields using scientific and technological innovations," Chen said.

Food prices increased by 17.6 percent year-on-year in October, with prices of fresh vegetables rising sharply and meat and poultry prices hovering at already high levels, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The Ministry of Agriculture has given subsidies to farmers to encourage them to raise pigs and poultry and plant vegetables and rape.

Special funds have been earmarked to increase agricultural research and development in areas such as seed cultivation, animal breeding and planting skills.

Such efforts increased the number of live pigs in the country by 13.4 percent in October compared with the same period of last year. There were 15 million dairy cows by the end of September, an increase of 12.2 percent from the same period of last year.

Some 22 million hectares of land will be used for winter wheat cultivation this year, about the same as last year, the ministry said.

The ministry has dispatched agricultural specialists to help farmers upgrade their planting skills.