| Since the founding of the People"s Republic of China 70 years ago, grain output in Gansu Province has increased at a rate of 135,350 tons and 53.485kg/hm2. In 2021, total grain output, yield per unit area and per capita reached to 12.315 million tons, 4600.3kg/hm2 and 494.6kg, respectively, with an average annual increase rate of 2.54% and 3.01% in total yield and per unit area. Grain production has achieved a "tight balance" between supply and demand of grain. The time needed to produce a grain production capacity of one million tons and a grain yield of 300kg/hm2 decreased from 20 years to 3.3 years and from 8 years to less than 3 years, respectively. The increase of total grain yield and yield per unit area was significantly higher than the decrease of planting area. The fluctuation of climatic yield decreased and the role of technological progress increased significantly during grain growth. The growth of grain output was due to the expansion of the planting area of spring maize and potato, and the water-suitable planting structure of summer and autumn grain crops was adjusted from 60.6:39.4 in 1978 to 32.4:67.6 in 2021. The increase of grain production was also attributed to the shift of grain production focus to dryland areas and the breakthrough of plastic covering rainfall-harvesting technology to increase grain production, and dryland area produces 65.4% of the total grain output with 75.8% of the total planting area of grain. In the new period, the grain demand of the whole province is increasing, and the grain production capacity of 12.8-13.6 million t is expected in the near future. Focusing on the strategic layout of reconstructing the "Longdong grain belt", strengthening the grain production function in Hexi, and emphasizing on the grain production potential in Jinghe irrigated areas along Huanghe and Taowei and Huicheng Basin, the province"s grain production will reach a new level by stabilizing the area and optimizing planting structure, constructing high-standard farmland, technological innovation, and building up high-yield belt with water saving and grain increasing. |