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Bottom Line Set for Grain Production

The amount of land dedicated to grain production is expected to continue shrinking in the years ahead but it will still have to produce a minimum of 500 million tonnes needed to feed China in 2010.

The estimate of China 's future grain need was revealed by the Ministry of Agriculture on August 2, 2006, as it unveiled the National Agricultural and Rural Economic Development Programme for the 11th Five-Year Plan.

China used 104.28 million hectares of arable land to produce 484 million tonnes of grain last year, 14.55 million tonnes more than the previous year, according to Ministry of Agriculture statistics.

China Passes Bankruptcy Law

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One of the three laws passed by the NPC Standing Committee was the new bankruptcy law. The new law is expected to protect the interests of both creditors and workers of bankrupt enterprises. The bankruptcy law, which comes into effect next June, has taken twelve years to make its way through the legislative process. The new law states that all insolvent enterprises will pay credit guarantees to creditors first, and will then use its assets to pay laid-off workers. The law applies to all kinds of enterprises and financial institutions. Experts say it'll help boost foreign investors' confidence when investing in China . The current bankruptcy rules were established twenty years ago. They allow laid-off workers to be paid before creditors.

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China Plans to Build Sewage Treatment Facilities

China plans to invest more than RMB330 billion ($41.3 billion) in building sewage treatment facilities in urban areas from 2006 to 2010.

By the end of 2007, the country will complete the update of the water pipe networks that have been operating for more than 50 years or those damaged ones. Not less than 95 percent of urban homes will be provided with clean water by the year 2010, up from 91.1 percent at the end of 2005.

China had increased efforts to improve urban water safety, but is still facing "prominent" problems such as water shortages, worsening pollution and degradation of its rivers.

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First Organic Milk Producer to Launch

By August 29, 2006, a special dairy farm for organic milk had been developed by Beijing Guiyuan Ecological Agriculture Development Co, and it was labelled China's first organic milk production base after passing assessment on August 13, 2006.

This dairy farm locates in Huoshaoying Village in Northwest Beijing's Yanqing County . Although its primary function is to make milk, however, it is not an average dairy farm. In the dairy farm, cows are raised in a natural setting. With music playing in the background, they munch on "hamburgers" containing healthy nutrients, graze in grass grown without chemical pesticides, and drink fresh water from ground-wells.

As Chinese people seek healthier food sources, the use of antibiotics, pesticides and synthetic hormones in milk production is getting a bad reputation. There are 500 different pesticides licensed for use on non-organic dairy farms; organic farms don't use any. Organic milk comes from cows that have not been treated with antibiotics, so doesn't have the bacterial resistance which allows cows to appear healthy while producing polluted milk.

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