China's grain output, including rice, wheat and corn, climbed a modest 2.9 percent year on year to 546.41 million tons in 2010, the seventh consecutive year of growth, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The result was based on a survey covering 31 provincial-level regions across the country. The acreage planted for grain expanded by around 886,000 hectares to 110 million hectares this year.

Earlier this year, a prolonged drought ravaged southwest China, drying up farmland and leaving people in desperate need of drinking water.

Among the 31 regions, 11 suffered a decline in annual grain output. Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces yielded a combined 40.48 million tons of grain, dropping 3.8 percent. But a bountiful harvest in northeast China and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have made up for the loss, said Ding Shengjun, a senior researcher at the State Administration of Grain.

Meanwhile, the policymakers have also spared no effort to prop up the agricultural sector. The Chinese Government this year distributed 15.5 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in subsidies for farmers to purchase agricultural machinery, compared with 70 million yuan ($10.4 million) in 2004.

However, the country's long-term grain safety remains at stake due to an expanding population and growing living standards, said Zheng Fengtian, a professor at the Renmin University of China. The country's limited cultivated land, scarce water and relatively weak agricultural technologies have also cast a shadow over its food sustainability, he said.