The seeded area, total output and yield per unit area of grain in East China's Zhejiang province all grew this year, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The province's grain output rose by 150 million kilograms year-on-year to 6.21 billion kilograms in 2021, the highest volume in the past six years.

The seeded area stood at 15.1 million mu (10,066.7 square kilometers) in 2021, up 1.3 percent from the previous year.

The yield per unit area increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year to 411.2 kilograms per mu this year.

Zhejiang authorities have been adhering to strict farmland protection standards and taken measures to curb farmland desertion by farmers this year. They have also been promoting the cultivation of premium grain varieties and advanced agriculture technologies.

To motivate farmers to be involved in the grain sector, Zhejiang has rolled out a series of favorable agriculture policies such as handing out grain and oil subsidies, setting minimum purchase prices, and allocating agriculture loans with discounted interest rates.

A farmer operates a driverless Beidou-guided rice planter in Wuyi, Zhejiang province. The machine can plant rice seedlings over an area equivalent to about two football fields within a single day. ZHANG JIANCHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY