Though China's annual grain yield is increasing, the waste and loss of grain still remains a big problem. Between the processes of storing, transporting and processing grain, the total annual loss of grain has reached 35 billion kilograms, equal to the total food required to sustain 200 million people in a year.

An official with the Agricultural Machinery Department said that the performance and the efficiency of those in charge of the harvest determines how much grain will be wasted. If a harvest driver pursues speed at the cost of proper operation, then grain will not be evacuated from the machine before fully detaching from the straw.

Moreover, though manual harvesting guarantees less waste, the airing process also costs a few grains. Poor storage and a lack of functioning granaries contribute to losses as well. In addition, damage caused by rats is another major issue. Grains that are processed multiple times experience unnecessary losses in volume and nutrients.

Authorities have promoted the use of new technologies, such as grain condition monitoring, transverse ventilation, nitrogen-filled circulation cooling and more, to decrease wasted grain by 2.54 billion tons. Losses during packaging have already decreased by 2 percent, owing to new transportation tools, containers and vehicles.

An official at the State Administration of Grain pointed out that outdated processing techniques should be eliminated, and process and consumption should be both taken into consideration in order to further reduce the waste rate.