Food security strategy should be actively and steadily adjusted to adapt to the new normal

At present, China's grain sector is marked by the simultaneous coexistence of the "six highs": high output, high imports, high reserves, high waste, high trans-regional transport, and high consumption. Food security is an important component of national security and must always be given a high degree of attention. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, we should proactively adapt to the new normal and actively and steadily adjust the food security strategy. To this end, the following recommendations are made:

1. Seize the opportunity of the Third National Agricultural Census to ascertain the true baseline of grain production and to thoroughly clarify a number of major issues. For example, in recent years grain-producing areas have frequently experienced spring droughts and summer floods as well as land being left idle or abandoned, arable land degradation has been severe, and in some regions the multiple cropping index of arable land has declined markedly, with an average annual loss of more than 40 billion kg of grain to natural disasters. Another example: as residents' dietary patterns change, the proportion of total feed grain consumed in the production of meat, eggs, milk and aquatic products relative to residents' staple food consumption has further increased. Should staple grain output continue to increase? Yet another example: the domestic and international price gaps for bulk agricultural products are continuously widening, and large quantities of policy-driven grain reserves are difficult to sell at a profit. What level of grain reserve ratio is appropriate? Issues such as these all require careful investigation, in-depth thinking and scientific assessment.

2. Use both the government and the market to effectively regulate grain production. Delineate permanent basic grain farmland, especially staple food farmland, implement stricter legal protection and high-standard construction, increase support for large-scale grain production entities, and focus on supporting green grain production; for arable land that is not basic grain farmland, "follow the market," but strictly prohibit "non-agriculturalization"; increase the intensity of returning farmland to forest and grassland, and implement clean soil projects tailored to local conditions; implement "determining production by water," control the expansion of grain planting in water-scarce areas of the north, encourage the south to gradually restore and expand staple grain planting and raise the multiple cropping index, and tap the grain-production potential of non-grain-producing areas; accelerate legislative work on limiting the quantity and quality of fertilizer, pesticide and plastic film use.

⟦NL> 3. Effectively utilize international markets and resources. Actively participate in the international division of labor and establish diversified, stable and reliable grain import channels; steadily develop the grain futures market and gain pricing power over grain products; improve mechanisms for international agricultural cooperation, the overseas investment insurance system and financial support policies, and encourage domestic enterprises to establish grain industry bases overseas.

4. Adjust grain reserve and distribution policies. On the basis of scientific assessment, reduce the state's grain reserve volume and increase the market's share of grain storage; reform the grain minimum purchase price system, and gradually adjust part of the "price subsidies" for grain production into universal "income subsidies"; focus on making the grain processing industry larger, stronger and better, and clear the "barrier lakes" in the grain distribution chain.

5. Promote grain conservation through multiple measures. Further promote the use of new grain-saving technologies, processes and equipment; vigorously strengthen publicity on grain conservation and foster a healthy consumption concept throughout society; and, in conjunction with the formulation of the "Grain Law," accelerate the pace of building the legal framework for grain conservation.