Loving and saving grain should be internalized as a habit

October 16 is the 35th World Food Day, and this week is also the 25th National Grain Love and Grain Saving Publicity Week. The Provincial Grain Bureau, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and other departments jointly launched a themed publicity campaign in Kunming and issued an initiative to the whole society to love and save grain. This year's theme for World Food Day is “Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty”; the theme of the National Grain Love and Grain Saving Publicity Week is “Promoting grain and benefiting farmers into every household”. (October 17, Yunnan Net)

“Practice economy and oppose waste” - the call of the Party Central Committee still rings in our ears. However, the waste of grain in our country is shocking. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the State Grain Administration, 35% of the grain produced in China each year is wasted, of which waste outside the dining table amounts to as much as 70 billion jin, roughly equivalent to the food ration of 200 million people for one year.

“Who knows that on the plate, every single grain is hard work” - grain is the foundation of human survival and the basis of development. Although our country's grain sown area and grain output have grown steadily, and we no longer need to worry about food and clothing, please do not forget that in this world there are still more than 800 million people suffering from hunger and malnutrition, and about 5 million children under the age of five die each year from diseases related to malnutrition. Moreover, even around us, not every household is well-off. Wasting grain is not just a small matter of gain or loss in economic interests.

“Frugality is the common foundation of virtue; extravagance is the greatest of evils.” Every grain is a blessing of nature, and all of it embodies the hard sweat of laborers. Disrespect for labor and lack of reverence for grain will inevitably produce bitter wine for one to taste oneself, and the bitter fruit borne will inevitably punish humanity itself. Cherishing every grain and saving every grain, and developing the good habit of consciously resisting waste, is the responsibility and obligation of every person.

Saving is a virtue, saving is a quality, and saving is even more a responsibility. The key to saving grain and loving grain lies in action, and it must never remain merely at the level of slogans. Everyone should take the initiative to participate and sing the main melody of “loving grain and saving grain.” Establish the concept that diligence and frugality are glorious and extravagance and waste are shameful, treat frugality as an attitude toward life and a way of life, start from what is before us and from the things around us, advocate civilized dining and rational consumption, put an end to “waste on the tip of the tongue,” “honor saving and cherish grain as gold,” “rather shed a thousand drops of sweat than spoil a single grain of grain,” and be spreaders, practitioners, and “guardians” of the idea of saving and loving grain.

“The key to governance is fairness and integrity. The way to build a family is frugality and diligence.” Loving grain and saving grain does not require people to invest too much energy or make too great a sacrifice; sometimes it is merely a thought or a small effort, but what it most needs is for people to form a habit, and for every member of society to persist in it consciously.