Washington, Oct 6 (IANS): A US federal court sentenced Chinese national to three years in prison for conspiracy to steal trade secrets from an agriculture conglomerate said the US Department of Justice in a statement.

Hailong conspired to steal the trade secrets from the agriculture conglomerates Monsanto and DuPont, reported Sputnik news on Thursday.

In January, Mo Hailong had pleaded guilty to participating in the corporate conspiracy while serving as the Director of International Business for Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Company (DBN) -- a Chinese corporation with a corn seed subsidiary company.

Hailong is a legal resident of the US. He will serve the jail term and also pay restitution.

From the time of Mo's arrest it was revealed that the US Department of Agriculture expects China's corn consumption to increase by 41 per cent by 2023, outpacing its production abilities.

Chinese companies have not developed a high-yield corn hybrid such as the ones patented by Monsanto and DuPont.