Around 45 percent of farmland has adequate access to irrigation; and two-thirds of all farmland is low and medium yielding, Chen said.

By vigorously improving agricultural infrastructure, such as developing water-efficient irrigation and upgrading low-yielding land, and spreading technology among farmers, the country can reach the goal of increasing overall grain output by 1 percent a year.

"Production growth is by far faster than population growth, which is one of the reasons we'll have no difficulty in feeding ourselves," Chen said.

It is unrealistic to reverse price hikes in the short run, but the country may well be able to reach its goal of pegging inflation at around 4.8 percent for 2008 as set forth by Premier Wen Jiabao, Chen said.

The higher cost of energy means greater outlays for agricultural production, as transport, fertilizer and agriculture film all use oil, Chen said.

Vegetables and fruits, whose production and supply was crippled by the devastating winter snowstorms, will be sold at higher margins for some time.

"So it is not viable to hold down the prices at the moment, for external pressures are still at work," said Chen, also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the political advisory body.

"But pork supply has already picked up, and the grain market is stable. Coupled with intensified efforts to buoy production and prevent prices rising too rapidly, inflationary pressures will ease throughout the year," Chen said.

Food prices account for one-third in the basket of the consumer price index - a key gauge of inflation, which surged to an 11-year high of 7.1 percent in January, compared with the average 4.8 percent for the whole of 2007.

(China Daily March 11, 2008)