Intelligent warning system being built to protect crops nationwide

China's top meteorological authority has begun building a nationwide risk warning system for agricultural meteorological disasters, aiming to cover more than 95 percent of the country's major grain crops by the end of this year.

The system, developed by the China Meteorological Administration, is designed to protect key crops such as winter wheat and summer and spring corn throughout their growth cycles using digital and intelligent methods, the administration said in an official statement.

Integrating satellite remote sensing, machine learning and meteorological big data, the system will predict when and where meteorological disasters will occur, how severe they will be and how long they will last. The shift from reactive disaster response to proactive prediction is expected to help farmers better prepare for extreme weather events.

The system will draw on data from China's Fengyun satellites and high-resolution meteorological observations to monitor crops in real time. It will track risks from more than 10 types of disasters, such as drought for winter wheat and heat stress for summer corn, and issue warnings up to 30 days in advance, according to the administration.

A pilot program is underway in four provinces, including Hebei and Anhui, with 177 sets of intelligent monitoring equipment deployed. Field experiments will compare crop yields and irrigation water use between conventional fields and those where the warning system is applied. Researchers will then analyze the system's impact on mitigating disasters across the entire crop cycle, from planting to storage.

The project is part of China's broader effort to protect agricultural production as the government prioritizes food security. The country has set a goal of increasing grain production capacity by 50 million metric tons in a new round of agricultural measures.

China has maintained bumper harvests in recent years, with annual grain output exceeding 650 million tons since 2015. In 2024, grain output reached a record 706.5 million tons, marking the first time it surpassed the 700 million ton milestone.

The central government has set this year's grain output target at 700 million tons and has pledged to strengthen efforts to ensure stable production and supply, according to a policy document on rural vitalization released in February.