Grain production must never be reduced because of adjusting the agricultural structure

As people's living standards rise and the consumption structure of agricultural products upgrades, the structure of agricultural planting and breeding must be adjusted in a timely manner. After China's grain production achieved “eleven consecutive years of growth,” major changes took place in the relationship between supply and demand, with some grain varieties experiencing a temporary oversupply, which also provided a rare opportunity for adjusting the agricultural structure. Transforming the development model and adjusting the structure are undoubtedly key tasks in rural reform and development. However, in some places, a relaxation of grain production has appeared amid structural adjustment, and the sense of responsibility for safeguarding national food security has weakened. This emerging trend should be taken very seriously.

Transforming the development model and adjusting the agricultural structure by no means implies reducing grain production. Although China's current grain output has exceeded 1.2 trillion jin, grain supply remains in a state of “tight balance.” With population growth, rapid urbanization, the expansion of industrial uses for grain, and the upgrading of the consumption structure, future grain consumption will continue to grow rigidly, and “tight balance” will be the long-term situation of China's grain supply and demand. If there is even the slightest relaxation in grain production, the “tight balance” can easily be broken. In fact, China's current per capita grain availability is about 900 jin, still a considerable gap from developed countries, and it is still difficult to fully meet the needs of people's rising dietary standards. For a country with such a large population as China, once domestic grain production and supply decline, it is impossible to rely on imports to solve the problem of feeding the people. Therefore, the state has repeatedly stressed “relying mainly on ourselves, based on domestic supply, and ensuring production capacity.” “Of all matters, food is the greatest.” If grain production capacity cannot be ensured, the top priority of feeding the people will be jeopardized, and economic development and people's livelihoods will be difficult to guarantee. Therefore, adjusting and optimizing the agricultural structure by no means implies relaxing grain production; rather, a solid and reliable national food security guarantee system must be built to ensure that the Chinese people's rice bowl is firmly held in their own hands at all times.

Moreover, structural adjustment must take stabilizing grain output as its premise and raising grain production capacity as its foundation, because grain is the material basis for structural adjustment. With the development of social productive forces and the deepening of the division of labor, the classification of the agricultural industrial structure has become increasingly detailed. Generally, crop farming, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and sideline occupations within the broader agricultural sector are regarded as the primary structure; each industry is further subdivided, for example, crop farming internally includes grain crops, cash crops, oil crops, and other crops, which is the secondary structure; grain crops in turn include corn, rice, wheat, tubers, and so on, which is the tertiary structure. Within this multi-layered structure, whether developing forestry, animal husbandry, aquaculture, or engaging in feed and food processing and conversion, and further in linked development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, none can do without grain, and all must take the stability and development of grain production as their premise. Only when grain production is stabilized and improved can more labor, land, and capital be freed from agricultural production, and more grain and agricultural by-products be made available as raw materials to develop cash crops, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline occupations, fishery, processing industries, and other secondary and tertiary industries. Domestic and international practice shows that the development speed and level of grain production largely determine the upgrading of the industrial structure and economic development.

Under market economy conditions, price is the most important factor affecting farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, and structural adjustment is mainly realized through the inductive mechanism of price signals. At present, grain prices face downward pressure, grain production costs are rising, the comparative returns from growing grain are relatively low, and some cash crops are no longer “cash” crops, which has already begun to affect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. If public opinion further sends a strong signal of “de-grainization,” with major policy adjustments and inactive purchasing, it could cause major fluctuations in grain production and bring negative effects on economic and social development. Improving the grain price formation mechanism and keeping grain prices at a reasonable level require the government to increase investment and subsidies and to strengthen agricultural infrastructure construction. But ultimately, under conditions of limited resources, stabilizing grain and increasing income, improving quality and raising efficiency must be achieved through science and technology and through innovation. Transforming the agricultural development model means shifting from reliance on resources and material inputs to reliance on scientific and technological progress and the improvement of workers' quality. Modern scientific and technological achievements and new business models should be introduced into all fields and all links of agricultural structural adjustment and the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, to raise the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress. In particular, scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry and research on green grain yield-increasing models should be strengthened, striving to raise the per-unit yield and quality of agricultural products and provide greater space for agricultural structural adjustment.

It can be seen that we must break out of the fixed mindset that treats grain production and agricultural structural adjustment as mutually exclusive, and blaze a new path in which the two develop in coordination and promote each other. This path is the path of innovation-driven development. In developing appropriately scaled agricultural operations, it is also necessary to avoid de-grainization, resolutely prohibit non-agricultural use, and prevent adverse effects on national food security. Acts that seriously damage agricultural production capacity should be resolutely investigated and dealt with.