China is striving to spur best grass seed strains production for pasture improvement project as the country has a huge potential for high-quality grass strains market.

In view of the current situation with China's pastures, Xu Zhu, director of the Grassland Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, proposed building artificial pastures as a way out for the country's vast grassland improvement project.

According to Xu, the crux of the matter, however, hinges on selection of best grass seed strains to gear to local ecology, multiply them as the strains and spread them on large acreage, so that they would be sold on markets and distributed to herders or farmers' households.

Latest statistics from the CAAS showed that China has a shortfall of approximately 200,000 tons of grass strains as the country demands 300,000 tons of grass seed yearly but can only turn out some 100,000 tons.

In line with an ambitious plan set for the 2006-2010 period, by 2010, China is expected to add and improve 50 million hectares of artificial pastures and return 7 million hectares of cropland to grasslands. More than 9 million hectares of water and soil erosion area and 22 million hectares of decertified land would be embedded with lush-green grass.

Meanwhile, urban environment improvement program and the needs of herders or farmers who raise livestock also increase the demand for top-quality grass strains.

So far, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Sciences and Technology have invested in a batch of grass seeds projects.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2004)