The modern corn seed production base in northwestern China guarantees future harvests

China is the world’s second largest corn producer and consumer. The northwestern city of Zhangye produces about half of the country’s corn seeds. CGTN’s GUO TIANQI reports. Autumn is the season for the corn harvest, but in Zhangye City, in northwest China’s Gansu Province, these are not ordinary corn kernels, but seeds. In this national corn seed production base, the annual planting area is more than 70,000 hectares, with an annual output of 530,000 tonnes of high-quality hybrid corn seeds in more than 1,600 variety combinations. It accounts for nearly 50 percent of the country’s corn seed production, with quality directly related to corn output. GUO TIANQI Zhangye, Gansu Province “This is commercial corn produced from the seeds of this hybrid variant. It’s very different in terms of size and color, but the advantages only last for a single crop. So new seeds need to be planted every season.” Hybrid corn has the advantages of strong disease resistance and high yield, but if you ...