In China science and technology has begun to play an increasingly important role in agriculture. Contribution of sci-tech to the country��s agriculture has risen to 45 percent from 27 percent at the end of 1970s.

The Ministry of Agriculture initiated a campaign in 13 grain-growing provinces this year which promoted 50 breeds and 10 technologies for the four staple grain, rice, wheat, corn and soybean.

In these areas rice output per mu topped 600 kilograms on average and winter wheat yielded 15.2 percent more harvest. Corn product per mu at 607 kilograms reflected an increase of 24.9 percent.

The Ministry of Agriculture is implementing a program to bring science and technology into rural areas. The program will create 1 million sci-tech model rural households which will motivate 20 million households. 10, 000 service organizations will also be in place to have agricultural technologies accessible to farmers.

Scientific researches on agriculture also reaped new breakthroughs in 2004. Remarkable progress has been made on the development and promotion of super rice. 15 breeds of super rice are born. And super rice has grown from another 48 million mu of land.

Initial commercialization has been launched for the vaccine inactivated H5N1 and the H5 vaccine this year.

By People's Daily Online