Farmers dry grains in Yongfeng Village, Meishan City of Sichuan Province, China, Aug. 31, 2023. Xinhua-Yonhap

Chinese agricultural scientists are developing new strains of protein-rich corn that can serve as a substitute for soybeans in animal feed, a potential game-changer for China's drive to reduce its reliance on overseas grain.

China has been forced to import soybeans in huge quantities in recent years to fuel its expanding livestock industry, as Chinese consumers adopt an increasing meat and dairy-heavy diet.

Beijing sees the growing dependence on foreign agricultural products as a threat to the nation's food security, as well as a potential issue of contention amid an intensifying trade war with the United States.

Developing higher-protein corn to replace soybeans in animal feed is seen as a potential solution, and researchers at China's Huazhong Agricultural University have already developed several promising varieties, according to the university's president.

Given China's vast corn production, an improvement of just 1percentage point in the protein content of the grain could reduce China's demand for foreign soybeans by up to 8 million tonnes, Yan Jianbing, Huazhong's president, told reporters during last week's "two sessions" — the annual meeting of China's top legislative and consultative bodies.

China has been placing increasing emphasis on food security amid a rise in geopolitical tensions and uncertainties in the international market.

China's soybean imports account for about 60 percent of the world's total trade volume for the grain, and the U.S. has long been one of the country's largest suppliers alongside Brazil.

This dependence on American soybeans has been a double-edged sword for Beijing. In the past, it has weaponized the trade by threatening to reduce purchases of U.S. grain, hurting the incomes of farmers in the Midwest.

Just this month, China slapped tariffs on U.S. agricultural products — including soybeans — in retaliation for Washington's hike in duties on Chinese goods.

But its reliance on U.S. grain is also a potential strategic weakness, and China has been steadily moving to diversify its soybean supply in recent years. The U.S. now accounts for more than one-fifth of Chinese imports, down from nearly 40 percent a decade ago.

A barge is loaded with imported grain at the port in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China, Feb. 16. AFP-Yonhap

"Last year, China's total corn production reached 290 million tonnes. If the protein content of corn increases by 1percentage point, it could add 2.9 million tonnes of protein annually," Yan said.

Yan's team has developed multiple high-protein corn varieties that have achieved an average protein content of 10 percent, which is 2 percentage points higher than that of regular corn, he said.

More than 10 million mu (667,000 hectares) of the new corn has already been planted, Yan added.

Traditionally, corn has served as the primary energy source in animal feed, while soybean meal has been the main source of protein.

China's soybean imports reached 105 million tonnes last year, with the majority being used as protein feed for livestock and poultry, according to Chinese customs data.

To replace these imports with domestically grown soybeans, China would need to add 70 to 80 million mu of farmland, an impractical proposition in a nation of 1.4 billion people where land is a precious resource, Yan said.

China has prioritized maintaining self-sufficiency in staple grains like rice and wheat, where it boasts world-leading production technology. But the per- unit yields of its corn and soybeans are only 60 percent of those in the U.S., according to figures frequently cited by Chinese officials.

Despite this, China's minister of agriculture, Han Jun, stated during the two sessions that China "has entered the top tier of global agricultural innovation," with agricultural technology contributing over 63 percent of China's overall productivity growth last year.

"The fundamental solution to the issue of food is technology," he said in a group interview over the weekend.

In his government work report last week, Premier Li Qiang set a target for China to produce 700 million tonnes of grain this year and to continue focusing on improving yields and quality.

China managed to reach this milestone last year, reporting a record high grain output of 706.5 million tonnes.

Read the full story at SCMP.