The inversion of grain and finance threatens food security and should be taken seriously

A research report by the China Well-off Society Construction Research Association states that among China's 800 major grain-producing counties, which account for nearly three-quarters of the national total grain output, more than 100 are national-level poverty-stricken counties, with a poor population of 36 million. The phenomenon of the inversion of grain output and county-level financial strength, known as “inversion of grain and finance”, is very obvious, bringing hidden dangers to national food security.

At the “China Food Security and High-end Forum on Urban-Rural Coordinated Development of 800 Major Grain-Producing Counties” held here on the 22nd, Wang Julu, president of the China Well-off Society Construction Research Association, introduced that the association, based on in-depth research on 800 major grain-producing counties across the country, had produced a research report titled “Recommendations on Accelerating the Implementation of the Integrated Urban-Rural Development Strategy for 800 Major Grain-Producing Counties During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period”. The report holds that the 800 major grain-producing counties, which account for 73.64% of the national total grain output, have always been the main force in China's grain production, but the development of these major grain-producing counties is generally backward, with a comprehensive urbanization rate of only about 24%, and as many as 105 national-level poverty-stricken counties. Many major grain-producing counties remain financially poor counties, increasingly trapped in a vicious circle in which the greater their grain contribution, the less local fiscal revenue, the lower farmers' income, and the more backward the economy, which has seriously affected the enthusiasm of local governments for agricultural production and of farmers for growing grain, and brought hidden dangers to national food security and comprehensive, sustainable social and economic development.

The research report shows that the per capita fiscal revenue of China's main grain-producing areas is less than 80% of the national average, and most major grain-producing counties are financially poor counties. Taking Heilongjiang Province, China's largest grain-producing province, as an example, among its 70 major grain-producing counties, 43 counties have fiscal revenue of less than 100 million yuan, 21 counties are provincial-level or national-level poverty-stricken counties, and 60 counties rely on fiscal transfer payments to maintain government operations.

The report recommends that, given the special status and contribution of the 800 major grain-producing counties in ensuring national food security, consideration should be given at the strategic level to incorporating the formulation and implementation of an integrated urban-rural development strategy for the 800 major grain-producing counties into the national “13th Five-Year Plan” as soon as possible, to escape as quickly as possible from the “high-yield, poor-county” situation of national grain production, and to make arrangements through policy guidance, institutional drafting, and planning layout, and to make arrangements for projects, funds, and measures.

The reporter also learned that the China Well-off Society Construction Research Association also established an expert think tank committee on the 22nd. The establishment of the think tank is expected to provide more intellectual support for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and for further in-depth and systematic research on related topics.