CHINA is giving more support to farmers to stem declining interest in agriculture and to meet rising food demand, the government said.

　　"Unprecedented" emphasis is being placed on farming, Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai said in a question-and-answer statement on a government Website. Financial and policy support, coupled with technological progress, will help the country feed itself, Sun added.

　　China's demand for food contributed to record gains in agricultural commodities this year, Bloomberg News said. Increased domestic production may boost stockpiles of grain and reduce import needs, while helping to ease inflation that reached an 11-year high in February.

　　"Agricultural infrastructure is still fragile," Sun said. It's becoming increasingly difficult to achieve self-sufficiency in grains and other products, he added.