Traditionally thought of as one of the country's top granaries, Henan Province is also fast becoming one of its major kitchens, official figures showed yesterday.

"Henan has topped other provinces and municipalities in terms of grain production for eight consecutive years," governor Li Chengyu told 951 deputies at the first plenary of the 11th Henan Provincial People's Congress, which started yesterday in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou.

Last year, Henan yielded 52 billion kg of grain of mainly wheat and corn, official reports showed. Meanwhile, the processing capacity for grain, meat and dairy products are 34.5 million, 5,78 million and 2.55 million tons, respectively.

"The province's ranking in the food processing industry has leapt from 5th to 2nd in China compared with five years before," the governor said.

"Henan has further enhanced its agricultural advantages while upgrading the capacity of the industrial and service sectors the province has significantly contributed to guaranteeing the nation's grain safety strategy," he said.

The province aims to strengthen the industry's "comprehensive productivity" by promoting the planting of quality wheat and rearing quality livestock and poultry products.

Wang Liuzhu, deputy director of the agricultural office of the standing committee of the Henan people's congress, told China Daily that substantial scientific and technological support has been used along with a legal framework to ensure agricultural development.

"The research and use of quality wheat seed has almost doubled the yield compared with using conventional seed," Wang said. Currently, the yield per hectare of quality wheat can be as high as 6,750 kg and the unit yield of corn, 9,000 kg.

Of the total 500 hectares of wheat land, more than 300 hectares are planted with the high-yield quality seed wheat.

The flour made from quality wheat has also been exported to bakeries in Australia and New Zealand.

"Some of the bread used for fast-food giant McDonald's in those countries is supplied by Henan," Wang said.

(China Daily January 17, 2008)