Corn planting back on schedule

Spring corn planting in the country’s main grain growing area is now back on schedule, after being delayed for almost two weeks due to the impact of last autumn’s excessive rain and snow, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on its website.

By May 16, planting of corn seed in northeastern China’s three provinces, and northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, had covered 16 million hectares, accounting for 96.7 percent of the crop’s total coverage in the area, according to the ministry. This is much the same level of progress compared with last year, the ministry said.

The northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia are the country’s major grain grower, accounting for 23 percent of the country’s grain production, 15 percent of its rice and 43 percent of its corn in 2012, official data showed. Excessive rainfall, delaying farmers’ spring plowing, had previously cast doubt on the country’s corn harvest this year.