China on the move: Modern agriculture ensures grain security

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For a country with a population of 1.3 billion people, ensuring grain security has always been a top priority for China. Northeast China's Heilongjiang province is the country's biggest grain producer and therefore, is an important part of China's grain security system. As CCTV Liu Ying finds out, developing modern agriculture and increasing productivity are the main goals there.

This M-18 helicopter is performing a minimum altitude spraying operation in a paddy field. Air-based operations like this are being widely utilized at farms in Heilongjiang province. It's considered a big advantage in productivity.

Zhao Zhifeng, agronomist of No. 290 Farm, Heilongjiang, said, "Air-based operations have the advantage of high speed and efficiency. It can finish operations of roughly 66 hectares per session, increasing output by 10 percent. No other machinery can compare to it, in terms of efficiency."

The use of advanced agricultural machinery has also become increasingly prevalent for individual farm workers.Wu Shoujun is the owner of this US-made high-powered tractor dubbed "eco-tiger". He bought the machine at the cost of 1.2 million yuan in 2004 supported by bank loans and a government subsidy of 500 thousand yuan.