In a move that promises to speed up agricultural and rural economic expansion in the western regions, China has decided to step up the protection of natural grassland, build more grain production bases and prioritize water-efficiency and ecological agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said that it will implement a plan to improve and build 14.66 million hectares of meadow in the coming five years in the western region, as well as establish 20 plant and seed breeding centres.

In what were dubbed "major measures to boost agricultural development" in the country's western areas, the ministry said it will ensure that the Chengdu Basin, the Gansu Corridor, southern Xinjiang and parts of Shaanxi Province and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will have 3.33 million hectares of high-yielding grain fields.

The ministry will also reinforce the grain production and storing infrastructure in 290 commodity grain producing counties in the region, so that it can support itself.

Under the ministry's plan, the western regions will be developed into speciality farm produce centres in 10 to 15 years for high-quality cotton, sugar, tobacco, fruit and flowers.

As arid land represents 81 per cent of western China's total arable land, water-efficient irrigation technology and drought-resistant grain varieties will be spread to more areas in the western regions.

To promote the expansion of ecological agriculture, the ministry aims to devote 133,300 hectares of farmland to producing pollutant-free agricultural products and encourage farmers to use stalks in the production of edible fungi and animal feed.

The progress of the agricultural processing industry will also be a priority for the western regions. It will highlight the processing of cereals, oil, meat, fruit, vegetables and herbal medicines, according to the ministry document.

The ministry also plans to run 70 training courses for 3,000 farmers annually in the coming five years in order to combat the short supply of skilled labour in the region.