Lhasa, Feb 8 - Agro-science has helped the Tibet Autonomous Region to reap bumper grain crops, the eighth good harvest in a row, a local government official has reported. The official with the regional agricultural department said that agro-science has increased the region's total grain production by 24 percent to 700 million kg. Researchers from the Tibet institute of agricultural science have developed and spread new techniques for the selecting and breeding of fine seeds. They have also devised new farming techniques. Researchers have also bred seeds which can grow well in the cold and dry areas of Tibet and introduced many fine seeds from other countries with ecological conditions similar to Tibet. The institute has now developed 208 varieties of new seeds, the official said. currently, the region has 95 varieties of fine seeds sown on over 130,000 hectares of farmland, he said. Farmers in the suburbs of the regional capital of Lhasa and Xigaze, a major city in Tibet, are planting potatos and corn in the

same fields. Output from one hectare of such fields is worth 102,000 yuan, 61,200 yuan more than fields planted with only one crop, the official said. The institute has also taught local farmers how to make and use organic fertilizers and manures. He said that farmers applied an average of 30,000 kg of such fertilizers on every hectare in the Xigaze prefecture. As a result, the region reported a record harvest of 290 million kg. Local agricoltural departments have paid great attention to the spreading of agro-science, he said. Agro-science and technology spreading centers have been set up in more than a dozen cities and counties including Doilungdeqen, Nedong and Nyingchi counties.