China's grain production increases for twelve consecutive years, entering a new stage of combining quantity, quality and efficiency
October 16, 2015 is the 35th World Food Day, and the week in which it falls is the 25th National Grain-Loving and Grain-Saving Publicity Week.
Food security has always been a major strategic issue of overall importance to our country's national economic development, social harmony and stability, and national security and self-reliance. Our country is a large country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. The constraints on grain production imposed by shrinking arable land, water shortages and climate change are growing day by day, while with the development of urbanisation and industrialisation, population growth and the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for grain is rising rigidly, and grain supply remains in a state of tight balance for a long time. Therefore, our country's food security issue is not only a need based on our country's national conditions, but also a focus of attention for countries around the world.
What is the current state of food security in China? In the face of the various food security challenges that exist worldwide and domestically, what support can the rule of law provide? With these questions in mind, the reporter from Legal Daily held a dialogue with Hong Tao, the main author of the 2014—2015 China Food Security (Assessment) Development Report and director of the Institute of Commercial Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University.
Interlocutor
Hong Tao, Director of the Institute of Commercial Economics, Beijing Technology and Business University
Our country's food security situation is very good
Reporter: From the proposal of the concept of food security to the increasing attention food security receives today, the connotation of food security has become ever richer. In the new period, a new concept of food security has emerged, including “sufficient supply, deliverable, affordable, and good to eat”, “one country's food security does not affect other countries' food security”, and so on. The concept of food security is constantly developing. What is our country's current food security situation?
Hong Tao: From 2004 to 2015, our country's grain production achieved a “twelve consecutive increases”, creating a miracle in the history of grain in China and even the world. In 2014, grain output reached 607.1 million tonnes, an increase of 0.9%, and it is expected that 2015 will see a “twelfth consecutive increase”, with grain output reaching 620 million tonnes, an increase of 1.76%. In terms of absolute quantity, our country's grain has achieved substantial growth.
What is noteworthy is that our country's grain production is constrained by resources and the environment such as arable land and fresh water, making consecutive increases increasingly difficult, and the space for further growth in grain output is limited. In 2014, the growth rate of our country's grain output declined for three consecutive years.
Reporter: In the 2014—2015 China Food Security (Assessment) Development Report, it is also mentioned that China's total grain imports in 2014 reached their highest level. Regarding this issue, the “report” analyses that the reasons mainly lie in factors such as the prices of grain varieties on the international market being generally lower than those domestically. Even so, this situation still makes people worry about the current food security situation.
Hong Tao: What can be affirmed is that our country's food security situation is very good, but it also needs to be made clear that our country's food security faces four main problems: first, the grain price “ceiling” problem. That is to say, domestic grain prices are now higher than international market prices, approaching the “ceiling”; second, the cost of grain production has risen substantially, and the grain “floor” is constantly rising; third is our country's grain subsidy “yellow line” problem. When China joined the WTO, it promised that “amber box subsidies” that have a relatively large distorting effect on trade, such as price support and direct subsidies linked to the current output of agricultural products, must not exceed 8.5% of output value. According to statistics, China's fiscal subsidies for “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” have already approached this “yellow line”; the fourth problem is that the “red light” problem in the grain ecological environment has lit up. That is to say, when we produce grain, some arable land has deteriorated and its quality has declined, leading to a decline in the quality of grain production. Excessive use of arable land to develop grain production has brought about damage to the grain ecology, such as excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, resource overload, and environmental overdraft.
Reporter: Looking back at the changes in our country's food security situation, it is not hard to find that whenever our country's grain supply is relatively abundant, lax attitudes very easily emerge. In the mid-1980s and the late 1990s, difficulties in selling grain were common throughout the country, and farmers had to reduce grain production, resulting in successive periods of stagnation and decline in grain production and tight grain market supply. People call this situation the grain cycle. Every time the grain situation is good, factors of grain tightness are often also brewing.
Hong Tao: So we propose “stabilising quantity, improving quality, and increasing efficiency”.
“Stabilising quantity” means we should not pursue a “thirteenth consecutive increase”; “improving quality” means raising quality. The quality of some of our grain products has declined, affecting market demand, so the brand issue should attract our great attention; “increasing efficiency” mainly means enabling farmers to obtain good returns. If there is a bumper grain harvest but farmers' incomes cannot increase year after year, then the development of grain will not be sustainable.