BEIJING — China has favorable conditions to achieve a bumper summer grain harvest as the soil moisture content is sufficient and the seedling condition is generally good, but the farmland management should not be relaxed, an agricultural official said on March 27.

Summer grain is the first season of China's annual grain production, which accounts for more than a fifth of the annual grain output.

The national spring sowing reached 74.8 million mu (4.99 million hectares) as of March 26, accounting for 8 percent of the intended planting area, and the progress is faster than the same period last year, said Liu Lihua, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs at a news conference.

The overall supply of vegetables is sufficient. As of March 26, the country had more than 56 million mu of vegetables in the field, and vegetable production will enter the peak season with steady growth in output as the weather warms up, she said.

With about 70 days ahead for summer grain harvest, it is still necessary to guard against meteorological disasters, such as late spring coldness.

The ministry will cooperate with the meteorological department to monitor weather changes and improve plans for disaster prevention and mitigation to get the first victory of grain production, Liu said.

China's summer grain output stood at 141.74 million metric tons in 2019, up 2.1 percent from the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said in July last year.