Why Grassland Agriculture Is a New Pathway to Ensuring Food Security

In developed countries, livestock farming (mainly grassland agriculture) accounts for over 70% of agriculture, and the food structure of people in developed countries is dominated by “meat, eggs, and milk.” Practice has proven that developing grassland agriculture can also achieve “eating enough” and “eating well.”

At present, although we have already achieved “eating enough,” to achieve “eating well,” we must firmly grasp the initiative in ensuring food security, and developing grassland agriculture is a reliable path.

To ensure food security, first, there is basic satisfaction of quantity. At all times, we must ensure more than 90% self-sufficiency in food. The annual world grain trade volume is 250 million tons, while China's annual consumption is more than 550 million tons. The grain trade deficit should be controlled to no more than one-fifth of world exports, so as to seize the initiative in domestic affairs and foreign relations. Second, there is assurance of quality. China's grain consumption in direct food has dropped from 400 kilograms and 300 kilograms in urban and rural areas in the 1980s to 120 kilograms and 70 kilograms now, which is the contribution of meat, eggs, and milk. The adjustment of dietary structure has made feed resources a core issue we face. Vigorously developing grassland agriculture, giving full play to the low-consumption and high-efficiency advantages of forage grass, and replacing part of high-grain-consuming livestock products with products from grass-eating livestock such as cattle and sheep is the only way forward.

Use grassland agriculture to ensure food security. First, the concepts of efficient modern agricultural production and refined management should be applied to grassland livestock farming in pastoral areas, and high-yield and efficient artificial grasslands and silage feed plots should be built in suitable areas to ease ecological pressure and increase the supply of premium beef and mutton and dairy foods. Second, in the grassy hills and slopes of the south, abandoned farmland, and areas short of labor, modern grassland livestock farming should be promoted. In areas with little labor, high prices, and complex terrain, mixed-sowing grazing-type artificial grasslands of ryegrass and sainfoin should be developed; in areas with abundant labor suitable for mechanized operations, high-yield forage and feed bases of timothy, forage sweet sorghum, silage corn, and alfalfa should be developed, implementing intensive grassland livestock farming. Through grassland agriculture, increase grain equivalent, use grass-eating livestock products to increase food equivalent, and reduce the consumption of feed grain.

From 2012 to 2015, the central government finance built 500,000 mu of high-yield and high-quality alfalfa demonstration areas each year in the northern grassland region, greatly promoting the application of refined agricultural techniques in grassland livestock farming. In 2014, the central government finance also launched the action to advance modern grassland livestock farming in the south in ten southern provinces and regions. Such a grassland agriculture layout protected the ecology of the northern grasslands and reduced soil erosion on the grassy hills and slopes of the south; greatly eased the contradictions of abandoned cultivated land and insufficient labor; modern grassland livestock farming developed efficiently; and farmers' and herders' incomes increased significantly. The enormous power of grassland agriculture is now emerging.

(The author is a researcher at the Grassland Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)