CHINA PROVINCE BECOMES GRAIN IMPORTER
The south China province of Guangdong is
importing millions of tonnes of grain a year from overseas and
other parts of China because farmers have switched from grain
to more profitable crops, the Peking Review magazine said.
    The official magazine said the province's grain area fell
to 4.33 mln hectares in 1985 from 5.7 mln in 1978 out of a
total farmland area of 7.4 mln hectares.
    Farmers have switched to cash crops such as sugarcane,
bananas, oranges, papaya and freshwater fish-farming, in part
to supply major consumer markets in Hong Kong and Macao, the
magazine said. It gave no 1986 area figures.
    The magazine said China aims to keep 80 pct of national
farmland under grain, 10 pct under cash crops and 10 pct under
other crops, although the ratio will vary from place to place.
    It said primitive cultivation methods, labour-intensity and
low productivity make grain the least profitable farm
commodity. Farmers in one central region of China can from 0.1
hectare earn 2,250 yuan a year from vegetables, 375-450 yuan
from cotton or 225 yuan from grain, it added.
    It said consumer prices for foodgrain can be adjusted only
gradually as part of a reform of the entire pricing system.
 REUTER
