Special Reports: Rural Development

                 Science and Technology Development

China has established the world's largest agricultural research and development group, but it suffers from inefficiency and waste, says the Agriculture Minister.

Du Qinglin told a national conference on agricultural science and technology that China has more than 1,200 agricultural research institutes with more than 120,000 researchers, and 155,000 agricultural technology application agencies with more than one million staff.

Du said the large team had played an important role in the past 50 years in boosting China's agricultural development with modern technologies.

But he also noted that it needed to resolve problems if it was to meet the demands of modern agricultural production.

Du said the problems included redundant organizations, lack of important and relevant research, and inefficiency in the application of new agricultural technology.

Science and technology contributed to just 48 percent of the growth in the agricultural sector, far behind the level of the United States, where technological advancements accounted for 81 percent of growth and 85 percent of agricultural technologies were actually applied to production.

Du said the government would prioritize agricultural science and technology in the next 15 years, and by 2020, it should contribute to 63 percent of the growth in the agricultural sector.