Nation now leader in agricultural patent applications

China has seen rapid progress in agricultural technologies in recent years and become the world's biggest applicant for agricultural patents, though more measures are needed to protect its agricultural intellectual property rights overseas, according to a report released on Friday.

Chinese institutes and enterprises applied for more than 612,000 patents related to agriculture between 2015 and 2019, the most in the world, and the number of patent applications kept increasing by nearly 7.6 percent on average annually over the five years, said the report, released by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Researchers analyzed agricultural patent competitiveness among 22 major countries advanced in agriculture by looking at factors such as the number of patent applicants, authorized patents and patent applications overseas.