China Taking Steps To Boost Grain Output

China will raise the price it pays peasants for grain by 20 percent this year to get them to grow more, but will continue to buy grain from the United States, the agriculture minister said Thursday.

About a third of the grain China gets from abroad comes from the United States.

Liu Jiang said China is determined to feed its swelling population. But that means harvests must increase 1 percent every year between 1996 and 2030, when the population is projected to peak at 1.6 billion.

Peasants will be given on average an extra 1.1 cents for every pound of grain they produce for the state, Liu said.

Liu also said the government will make sure no farm land is diverted to other uses, invest more in irrigation and push technological advances in farming.