What new changes have been made to the provincial governor responsibility system for the "rice bag"

Strengthening the sustainable grain production capacity, protecting farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, enhancing local grain reserve capacity, ensuring grain market supply, and ensuring grain quality and safety... Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Measures for Assessing the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security," which clearly stipulates that each provincial-level people's government must earnestly assume the primary responsibility for ensuring food security in its region, and sets out detailed provisions on the assessment subjects, principles, content, procedures, and reward and punishment mechanisms. The "Measures" are the specific measures formed to implement the "Several Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security" issued by the State Council at the beginning of this year. It can be said that the "Measures" and the "Opinions" together constitute the new "rice bag" provincial governor responsibility system for safeguarding China's food security under the new situation.

In 1995, the "rice bag" provincial governor responsibility system was first written into the government work report. The explanation in the document at that time was that "being responsible for the 'rice bag' means being responsible for the grain supply of the province, that is, ensuring the planting area, increasing per-unit yield, increasing reserves, adjusting supply and demand, and stabilizing prices." For many years, especially during periods when price increases were excessively high, this system played a major role in safeguarding China's food security and maintaining social stability.

In recent years, China's food security situation has undergone profound and complex changes: the quantity of cultivated land has decreased, its quality has declined, groundwater has been overexploited, and agricultural non-point source pollution has worsened, so grain production is facing increasingly prominent constraints from agricultural resources and the environment; domestic temporary storage prices and minimum purchase prices for grain have continued to rise, the prices of China's three major staple grains have long been higher than those on the international market, the volume of imported grain and state-owned stocks have continued to increase, and in some areas there has even been a trend of "difficulty in selling grain." In the face of this situation, it is particularly important to further strengthen, enrich, and improve the "rice bag" provincial governor responsibility system. Compared with the previous system, the new "rice bag" provincial governor responsibility system covers a broader scope. From all links such as grain production, reserves, circulation, and consumption, it further clarifies the authority and responsibilities of provincial-level people's governments in safeguarding national food security, with more comprehensive requirements and more specific responsibilities.

From "focusing on output" to both "focusing on output" and "focusing on production capacity," greater emphasis is placed on strengthening the sustainable grain production capacity. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the rice bowl of the Chinese people must always be firmly held in our own hands, and the rice bowl must mainly contain Chinese grain. Grain output can be adjusted according to market demand, but grain production capacity must be ensured and consolidated and improved. In the "Measures," strengthening the sustainable grain production capacity is the item with the highest score among the six assessment contents, with a weight as high as 30%-40%. The assessment indicators include 8 subcategories, such as resolutely guarding the red line of cultivated land, accelerating the construction of high-standard farmland, and improving the scientific and technological level of grain production. Through "storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology," it ensures that "grain is basically self-sufficient and food rations are absolutely safe."

From "relying on producing areas" to both "relying on producing areas" and "relying on sales areas," greater emphasis is placed on the balance of each province's primary responsibility for safeguarding food security. In the past, because major grain sales areas had no rigid production tasks or mandatory requirements, they lacked subjective enthusiasm for grain production, and some places relaxed grain production, neglected grain circulation, and relied excessively on the central government. The "Measures" stipulate that each provincial-level people's government must earnestly assume the primary responsibility for safeguarding food security in its region and comprehensively strengthen the building of grain production, reserve, and circulation capacity. This is the first time the General Office of the State Council has used a dedicated document to clarify the assessment of provincial-level people's governments' food security responsibilities, fully demonstrating the great importance the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach to safeguarding national food security.

From "emphasizing quantity" to both "emphasizing quantity" and "emphasizing quality and ecological safety," greater emphasis is placed on strengthening grain quality and safety and agricultural ecological environment governance. The "Measures" propose preventing and controlling grain pollution at the source. In areas with serious soil pollution, measures such as remediation of cultivated land soil, adjustment of planting structure, and designation of prohibited zones for grain production should be taken; strengthen the control of grain with excessive pesticide residues, heavy metals, and fungal toxins, and establish a long-term mechanism for handling over-standard grain; strictly implement the responsibility system and accountability system for grain quality and safety supervision, and implement the primary responsibilities of local governments for territorial management and of production and business entities. These are all new requirements for safeguarding national food security under the new situation and are more in line with the practical needs of ensuring food security.

From "frequent reminders" to both "frequent reminders" and "clear rewards and punishments," greater emphasis is placed on the seriousness of supervision and assessment. In the past, the State Council often reminded governments at all levels in government work reports to place the "rice bag" chief executive responsibility system in a "more important position," but there were no strong and operable means of reward and punishment. Now the "Measures" clearly stipulate that assessment results should be submitted to the central department in charge of cadres and used as an important reference for the comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the principal responsible persons and leadership teams of the people's governments of each province (autonomous region, municipality). Provincial-level people's governments (autonomous regions, municipalities) with excellent assessment results shall be commended, and relevant departments shall give priority consideration in the arrangement of relevant project funds and special support policies for grain. For those with unqualified assessment results, within one month after the notification of the assessment results, a written report must be submitted to the State Council, proposing rectification measures and deadlines; if rectification is not completed within the deadline, relevant departments shall interview the relevant responsible persons of the people's government of that province (autonomous region, municipality), and when necessary, leading comrades of the State Council shall interview the principal responsible persons of the people's government of that province (autonomous region, municipality). If serious impact is caused to the grain market and social stability due to failure to perform duties, major work mistakes, and other reasons, the responsibility of relevant responsible persons shall be pursued in accordance with law and discipline.

The more grain one has in hand, the more one must seize the time to consolidate the foundation of grain. The promulgation of the "Measures for Assessing the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security" reflects the firm determination of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to safeguard national food security under the new situation and sends a strong signal to stabilize grain production.