Senior agricultural officials called for closer international cooperation to boost China's sciences and technologies in the agricultural sector.

As a developing country with the world's largest population, China must feed about 20 percent of the global population using only 9 percent of the world's arable land.

Agriculture in China is not only important for the country, but is also a crucial factor in the stability of economic development worldwide, said Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu.

He made the remarks during the fourth Global Forum of Leaders for Agricultural Science and Technology on Wednesday in Beijing.

"Sciences and technologies now are becoming major driving forces in the country's development in the agricultural sector. For future science and technology innovation, cooperation and exchanges worldwide are urgently needed," he said.

For China, future research priorities in the agricultural sector will include various fields, such as climate change, disaster prevention and reduction, environment protection and remediation, effective utilization of agricultural resources, and development of new crop and animal varieties, said Li Jiayang, vice-minister of agriculture and president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.