China's grain loss and waste is close to 6% of total annual output, making grain conservation imperative
In recent years, China's grain imports have surged, with the total approaching 6% of domestic production. Under the severe situation of safeguarding domestic food security, the grain loss and waste caused each year in China merely in off-the-table stages such as farmer household grain storage, warehousing and transportation, and processing is as high as more than 70 billion jin, close to 6% of China's total annual grain output, equivalent to Jilin Province's total grain output in 2014. If grain waste at the dining table is included, the figure is even more staggering.
On one hand, grain output is being raised at any cost; on the other hand, massive waste occurs. In which stages does China's enormous grain waste actually occur, and how can such waste be governed? Solving these problems has major practical significance for easing the tight balance between grain production and sales in China and effectively safeguarding food security.
Grain loss occurs at the harvesting stage. China's level of mechanized harvesting has continued to rise, reaching 59.5% in 2013, but harvesting capacity remains uneven across different regions and different staple grain crops. For example, the machine harvesting rate in southern regions is relatively lower than in the north, and rainy weather often causes rice to sprout and become moldy, resulting in large amounts of loss and waste. At the same time, because harvesting machinery design is insufficiently refined, the amount of grain left behind also increases.
Grain loss occurs at the collection and storage stage. In 2014, China's total grain output reached 609 million tons, of which grain stored by farmer households accounted for more than half of the national annual total grain output. Due to crude storage facilities, insufficient drying capacity, and a lack of technical guidance services, the annual loss ratio of farmer-stored grain caused by insects, mold, rats and birds is around 8%. Calculated on this basis, the annual grain loss and waste is roughly more than 40 billion jin, equivalent to the annual output of a medium-sized major grain-producing province. On the other hand, among grain storage enterprises nationwide, nearly 240 billion jin of warehouses are dangerous or old warehouses, with poor grain storage conditions and annual losses exceeding 15 billion jin.
The transportation stage also causes grain waste. Grain transportation methods are outdated, specialized transportation tools are in short supply, and bulk grain transportation accounts for only 25%. Most grain transportation uses the traditional bagged grain transportation method, that is, basically using gunny sacks and plastic woven bags, with bags opened for bulk storage during the storage stage, then converted back to packaged form at the transfer and transportation stages, resulting in an average spillage rate of around 5%, still far from the 2.5% loss requirement stipulated by the state. The grain loss caused each year by this exceeds 30 billion tons.
Excessive deep processing of grain causes waste. In order to give rice better commercial value, most processing enterprises polish rice twice or even multiple times. This excessive processing lowers the rice yield, raises production costs, and affects nutritional value. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture, grain loss caused in China's processing stage has already reached more than 15 billion jin. According to calculations by the Rice Branch of the China National Association of Grain Sector, if the market share of refined rice continues to increase, rice loss will reach as high as 40 billion jin, equivalent to the annual ration of about 130 million people.
There is serious grain waste in the catering industry. According to conservative estimates, from 2007 to 2008 China wasted as much as 8 million tons of food protein in catering alone, equivalent to the annual needs of 260 million people; and 3 million tons of fat, equivalent to the annual needs of 130 million people.
To promote grain conservation and loss reduction, it is recommended that the government consider the following policy measures:
Treat “grain conservation and loss reduction” and “stabilizing grain and increasing income” equally. China's current grain subsidy policy system easily leads local officials to focus on how to increase grain output, taking grain output and income growth as the performance assessment target of local governments, while paying little attention to the enormous waste in the grain industry chain. Therefore, it is necessary to change the previous assessment system and reward and punishment system, not only assessing the quantity of grain output in producing areas, but also accounting for the loss rate of grain in that region during production, storage and transportation, and processing.
Strengthen institutional system building and elevate grain conservation and loss reduction to the legal level. Promulgate the "Grain Law" as soon as possible, stipulating measures and systems for conservation and loss reduction in aspects such as strengthening publicity, education and supervision, reducing loss and waste in farmer household grain storage as well as storage, transportation, processing and catering stages, and strengthening the research, development and promotion of grain conservation and loss reduction technologies. Promote the formation of a society-wide concept of grain conservation and loss reduction through legal punishment of typical cases.
Increase investment and capacity building for grain conservation and loss reduction. List a separate special fund in the fiscal budget for building small and medium-sized grain conservation and loss reduction capacity; focus on supporting research on grain storage, transportation and processing technologies and complete sets of equipment; increase the construction of new, expanded and upgraded warehouse capacity in major producing areas; support farmers' cooperatives and large specialized households in major producing areas in building grain storage facilities with drying equipment, and support grain farmers in building primary processing facilities such as natural ventilation warehouses, small drying equipment and drying storage warehouses.
Strengthen the research, development and promotion of grain conservation and loss reduction technologies. Give full play to the role of modern agricultural technology in grain conservation and loss reduction, and further improve industry standards and technical requirements for grain storage, transportation and processing; large state-owned grain storage, transportation and processing enterprises should fully consider engineering construction, equipment manufacturing, process flows and so on from the perspective of grain conservation and loss reduction, transform and upgrade each stage according to actual conditions, promote product upgrading, and give full play to the technical guidance and diffusion role of state-owned enterprises in the industry.
Guide the whole society to form a scientific and reasonable outlook on grain consumption. Strengthen education and guidance for personnel engaged in grain production, storage, transportation and processing industries, and regularly carry out special education and training on dedication to work, bringing every grain into the barn, and eliminating waste; vigorously advocate a simple and pragmatic outlook on catering consumption and cultivate dietary habits of balanced meals; strengthen the value that saving grain is glorious and wasting grain is shameful through social guidance, public opinion publicity, school education, legal system building and other aspects.