KARIMNAGAR: The Assistant Director of Agriculture, Vasireddy Sridhar, recently visited the Changsha city, one of the most populous cities in China, along with professors of Agriculture University and seed certification representatives to study the country’s agricultural setup. The team from Telangana also visited China’s grain museum in Zhengzhou of Henan province and received training from the father of hybrid rice, Prof Yuan Longping.
Speaking to Express, he said the tour was focussed on grain processing and food grain storage technology which is currently being used in China. “Rice is the primary production despite the fact that the people there do not consume as much rice, utilise them for by-products only,” said Sridhar who is currently working in the Karimnagar agriculture department.
In China, all the lands belong to the government which only gives lease for cultivation for 30 years with the required pattas. The government also collects water tax from farmers. All the farmers are given assured irrigation facilities for their cultivation crops. Canals and irrigation projects are also large in numbers. Changsha and Zhengzhou have advanced infrastructure facilities for rice processing, storage and an intelligent warehouse management technology, noted Sridhar.
They prefer processing units and grain waste is zero in their grain processing units. Storage technology is also much advanced, he said. The Chinese also received training from experts in food production industries and processing technology. It may be noted that in some countries, the grain waste is 10 per cent during the food processing, he remembered.
Global demand for foodgrain set to rise by 70%
Improvement in foodgrain production and processing is required to ensure food security in the world. As per a recent UN report, the global population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. As a result, the global demand for food grains is likely to increase by 70 per cent