BEIJING - The Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC), the third-largest bonds issuer in the country, issued bonds worth 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) to overseas investors for nurturing high-standard farmland.

The five-year and seven-year policy bank bonds, each worth 5 billion yuan, were issued through public bidding at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the first time this year for the ADBC to issue financial bonds at stock exchanges.

Creating high-standard farmland serves as a foothold for implementing rural vitalization and agricultural supply-side structural reform, and it is vital for ensuring China's food security, said the ADBC.

By the end of July, the policy bank has issued 140.1 billion yuan worth of loans for nurturing high-standard farmland and other projects to improve the quality of China's farmlands, data from the bank showed.

Projects funded by the loans are expected to expand the country's farmland areas, including high-standard ones, by 33 million mu (2.2 million hectares).