Food security: can drones and BeiDou put an end to ‘paper farming’ in China?

China's agricultural sector requires technological advancement and innovation to increase yields and enhance food security, rather than expanding farmland, according to a rural policy expert. These comments follow a state media investigation alleging that officials in central China exaggerated the size of mandatory rice crops to meet their targets.

The CCTV program 'Focus Report' aired its findings on July 14, claiming that officials in Jianghua Yao, a county in Yongzhou, Hunan province, misreported the extent of land used for rice cultivation. The report stated that officials asserted they had met their 2024 target by reporting 390,000 mu (26,000 hectares) of rice paddies planted in the county.

However, the actual size of the paddy fields that year was significantly smaller, measuring only 238,000 mu (15,866 hectares), according to the report. This practice has been labeled 'paper farming,' suggesting that some of the reported crops existed only on paper.