(NDAgConnection.com) – Despite the unprecedented heat and drought that plagued the south of the country this summer, China’s autumn harvest is in full swing, completing 672 million mu (44.8 million hectares), more than half of all the farmland across China grown with autumn plants, as of Saturday, with several major grain production areas seeing a significant increase.

Experts said that while parts of the country had been affected by the extreme weather, China would still see a bumper harvest this year thanks to the application of more advanced agricultural technologies and timely policy adjustments and incentives. At a time when global food security is in disarray, maintaining stable grain production is a major contribution that China has made to the world, they noted.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that the country’s autumn harvest has been advancing at 35 million mu per day, completing 51.5 percent of the total so far, 3 percentage points faster than the same period last year.

Main grain production areas have now entered the harvesting season. “This year, the northeast, the Yellow River-Huaihe River-Haihe River areas, and the northwest of China have seen good grain growth. Corn, rice, soybean yields have increased to varying degrees, and the autumn grain is expected to see a bumper harvest,” Zhu Juan, an official with the ministry, told People’s Daily.

Grain production this year has been particularly difficult for farmers nationwide for various reasons, from rare autumn floods in the north last year that forced large scale late sowing of winter wheat, to the highest temperatures in more than 60 years this summer that resulted in a significant drop in rainfall in the Yangtze River basin.