BEIJING -- China has developed over 1 billion mu (about 66.7 million hectares) of high-standard farmland as of the end of 2023, with 13 key grain-producing provincial-level regions accounting for around 70 percent of the total, according to a report submitted to a legislative session on Tuesday.

High-standard farmland is characterized by well-leveled, contiguous plots with advanced irrigation, efficient water use and enhanced soil fertility. Designed to withstand both droughts and floods, it aligns with modern agricultural practices and features pollution-free soils and high yields.

The report presented to a session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, emphasized ongoing efforts to upgrade and expand large and medium-sized irrigation systems while strengthening water usage controls and allocations to secure the country's water resources for grain security.

In the last decade, irrigated farmland has expanded by 123 million mu, bringing the total to 1.075 billion mu, which now produces 77 percent of China's grain and over 90 percent of its cash crops.

China has also seen improvement in irrigation efficiency. The effective utilization rate for irrigation water increased from 0.53 in 2014 to 0.576 in 2023, while the average water usage per mu of irrigated land dropped from 402 cubic meters to 347 cubic meters.

At the same time, grain productivity per cubic meter of irrigation water rose from 1.58 kg to over 1.8 kg.

China continues to prioritize food security as it feeds over 1.4 billion people with only 9 percent of the world's arable land. An array of measures has been implemented to improve grain output over the past years, including building more high-standard farmland and promoting agricultural technologies.

The country reported its largest grain output increase in nine years this summer, driven by a bumper wheat harvest.