China’s food security threatened by drastic drop in crop varieties

Over 70 percent of food crop varieties has disappeared in six regions in China, including Central China’s Hubei and Hunan provinces, which agricultural experts fear may threaten China’s food security.

The native food crop varieties in 375 counties of six provinces and cities have shrunk from 11,590 in 1956 to 3,271 in 2014, according to a national food crops meeting on Wednesday in Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province, the Science and Technology Daily reported Thursday.