Grain production becomes a highlight, and national food security is more solidly guaranteed

In recent days, from the black soil of Northeast China to the fish-and-rice townships south of the Yangtze and the great granaries of the Central Plains, good news about grain production has been pouring in from all over the country: this year's autumn grain area has increased and crops are generally growing well, with a bumper harvest in sight. Looking at the year as a whole, China's grain production has overcome difficulties and is once again set to deliver a gratifying answer sheet.

Grain production becomes the highlight of highlights

With grain in hand, the heart is at ease. Only when grain is secure can people's hearts be secure. This is the simplest yet most profound truth the Chinese nation has drawn from thousands of years of historical practice. At present, China's economic development has entered a new normal, with relatively great downward pressure, but the basic trend of making progress while maintaining stability has not changed, and the agricultural and rural economy in particular has shown many highlights. Among them, grain production is undoubtedly the highlight of highlights. The excellent situation in grain production not only plays a role in guaranteeing supply and boosting confidence, strengthening the foundation, for China's current economic transformation and development and steady entry into the new normal, but also has an indispensable impact on world economic stability.

Now, China has fairly steadily used less than 10% of the world's arable land to produce 1/4 of the world's grain and feed 1/5 of the world's population. Successive years of bumper harvests have ensured that we keep our rice bowl firmly in our own hands and that the bowl is mainly filled with our own grain. Behind this is the new-era national food security strategy put forward by the central authorities after sizing up the situation, the strong signal of “attaching importance to agriculture and grasping grain” that has been continuously released, the ability, confidence, mechanisms and experience in stabilizing grain and increasing output that China's grain production has explored and cultivated step by step, and the hard work of those who emphasize agriculture and grasp grain and of the grain growers.

As the largest part of the year's grain production, this year's autumn grain production experience is worth summarizing and distilling. Its characteristics are shown in three aspects: First, the area has increased steadily. The increase in autumn grain area is mainly because the area of industrial raw material crops such as cotton, oil and sugar was reduced due to the influence of market prices and planting returns. Second, the level of science and technology has improved. All localities have integrated high-yield creation and green yield-increase model research throughout the entire autumn grain production process, vigorously promoted green yield-increasing technologies such as fine mechanical land preparation and centralized rice seedling raising, and raised the level of production science and technology. Third, climatic conditions were generally normal. Apart from periodic low temperatures in parts of Northeast China in spring and brief drought in summer, light, temperature and water matched well in most parts of the country, which was conducive to the growth and development of autumn grain and the formation of output.

Green action, golden harvest

One day in late September, looking at the rice fields growing splendidly, Wang Guisan, a farmer from Chunhuashan Village, Chunhua Town, Changsha County, Hunan Province, was delighted from the bottom of his heart: “This rice, this year, 1300 jin per mu is no problem.” More than 1200 mu of fields in Chunhuashan Village have all been included in the high-yield creation program, providing strong support for farmers to grow high-yield fields.

At this time, thousands of miles away in Northeast China, large grain growers were also immersed in the expectation and joy of a bumper harvest. Hou Jiyou of the Tonghe Modern Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in Shiquan Town, Bei'an City, Heilongjiang, participated in the “grain-soybean rotation” project this year, planting 10000 mu of soybeans, with a subsidy of 150 yuan per mu. “After crop rotation, the beans are estimated to increase output by 20%.” The large growers also recognized that “rotation helps fertilize the field and reduce pests and diseases, and since Northeast China freezes quickly, planting soybeans allows an earlier harvest, so the soil can be deep-loosened earlier, laying the foundation for next year's corn harvest.”

“Green action, golden harvest.” Through Wang Guisan, Hou Jiyou and the millions of the most ordinary grain growers, we can see that this year's grain output and production capacity have improved simultaneously. Grasping “seizing” to protect area, grasping “management” to raise per-unit yield, grasping “resistance” to ensure safety, and grasping “prevention” to reduce losses, a whole set of effective measures has been comprehensively applied. At the same time, the designation of permanent basic farmland got underway, high-standard farmland construction advanced from point to area, the action to protect and improve arable land quality was officially launched, green yield-increasing model research entered the wheat fields, high-yield grain creation reached a new level, and grain production is shifting from focusing mainly on annual output to a path of sustainable development of storing grain in the land and storing grain in technology.

⟦NL> Three keywords: adjust, transform, improve

This year's autumn grain production also has three keywords. One is “adjust.” It mainly refers to some optimization of the planting structure. This is mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, reducing the corn area. The focus is on reducing the corn area in high-latitude and arid areas and switching to drought-tolerant crops such as soybeans, miscellaneous grains and beans, and tubers. On the other hand, optimizing the variety structure. This mainly means reducing grain corn and switching to fodder silage corn and edible fresh corn.

One is “transform.” It mainly refers to transforming the development mode. This is also mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, giving it a “green” connotation. Centering on the three major concepts of “green, yield increase, and efficiency,” an upgraded version of high-yield grain creation and yield-increase model research was created. Five crops and 20 green yield-increasing and efficiency-enhancing technical models across 5 major regions were integrated and assembled, and 14 key technologies for saving water, fertilizer, pesticides and seed were selected, creating a group of demonstration zones that advance both yield increase and efficiency enhancement and are coordinated and sustainable in production and ecology. On the other hand, highlighting the “two reductions.” Work was organized to carry out “zero growth in chemical fertilizer use by 2020” and “zero growth in pesticide use by 2020,” promoting reductions in chemical fertilizers and pesticides and increases in efficiency.

The third is “improve.” That is, improving arable land quality. The “action for the protection and improvement of arable land quality” was carried out, with 800 million yuan arranged, focusing on subsidies for improving organic matter. At the same time, 500 million yuan was specially arranged to carry out pilot projects for the protection and utilization of black soil in 17 major grain-producing counties in Northeast China. Another 1.5 billion yuan was continuously arranged to carry out comprehensive treatment pilots in heavy metal-polluted areas in Hunan.

At present, China is at a critical stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and ensuring national food security faces new situations and tasks. In order to safeguard national food security over the long term, we must closely focus on the main line of “stabilizing grain and increasing income while adjusting structure, improving quality and increasing efficiency while transforming the development mode,” do a good job in implementing key tasks, and consolidate the foundation for steady and healthy economic development.