The Dilemma of Major Grain-Producing Counties: "Others Eat, We Subsidize"

Years of consecutive grain output increases have not dispelled the worries of major grain-producing counties. A recent survey by Economic Information Daily reporters in three major grain-producing counties (cities) in Hunan - Xiangxiang City, Taojiang County and Taoyuan County - found that major grain-producing areas are generally facing difficulties such as fiscal strain, diminishing incentives for grain production, and rapid deterioration of the agricultural ecological environment. Officials in charge of grain production in major grain-producing counties (cities) said the current model of promoting grain production through over-reliance on “administrative coercion” is no longer sustainable, and major grain-producing counties (districts) generally lack internal motivation. The reason some places still keep the “major grain-producing county” label is merely a sense of “honor.” If this situation is not changed, grain production could face “big problems” in the coming years.

“Others Eat, We Subsidize”

Xiangxiang City, Taojiang County and Taoyuan County are three well-known major grain-producing counties (cities) in Hunan. During the reporters' investigation in these three counties, from the local deputy county heads in charge of agriculture to officials in various agriculture-related departments, all alike poured out their grievances to the reporters: compared with the huge manpower and financial resources devoted to grain production and the various development opportunities lost, the returns obtained by major grain-producing counties are too small. This has left local governments that rely solely on administrative coercion without motivation.

Xiangxiang City is a county-level city under the administration of Xiangtan City and has won the title of National Advanced County in Grain Production for five consecutive years. He Fumei, deputy director of the Xiangxiang Municipal Finance Bureau, told reporters: “The central government gives us transfer payment reward funds for major grain-producing counties of about 29 million yuan each year, but in 2014 Xiangxiang's own-level finance additionally invested 46.44 million yuan in funds directly related to grain production, and this year it reached 64.14 million yuan, with an annual increase of basically around 15 percent. If indirect investment such as water conservancy is included, Xiangxiang's own-level finance spends more than 100 million yuan on grain production each year.”

“Major grain-consuming areas develop large amounts of industry, while major grain-producing counties have lost too many development opportunities because of grain production. To sum it up in one sentence: ‘Others eat, we subsidize.’” A deputy county head interviewed expressed this sentiment. In order to stabilize grain area and output, in these major grain-producing counties every year during spring plowing and the “double rush” season, there are more officials in the fields than farmers. The government not only issues multiple documents urging each township to fulfill tasks, but some officials even have to transfer in land that farmers have abandoned and are unwilling to plant, and cultivate it themselves. “If the money invested in grain production were pooled to set up one or two industrial enterprises, it would be earned back in three years at most.”

“To be honest, we are not willing to do grain production, but we do not want the ‘major grain-producing county’ sign to fall either.” Li Changhe, deputy county head of Taojiang County, said frankly, “Taojiang is neither a major ecological county nor a major poverty alleviation county, so we can only keep the ‘major grain-producing county’ sign. Our thinking is to pin our hopes on future policy adjustments. If the state greatly increases transfer payments or rewards to major grain-producing counties in the future, then if we had lost this sign, it would be too much of a loss.”

It is understood that in recent years, the phenomena of farmers abandoning land and “double to single” (changing double-season rice to single-season rice) have been very common in Taojiang County, and the local government can only use administrative coercion to maintain area and output. Liu Boyue, director of the Taojiang County Agriculture Bureau, introduced that grain production accounts for 2 points in Taojiang County's performance assessment of townships, a very large proportion. Moreover, the county stipulates that grain production tasks must be completed 100 percent; even if 99 percent is completed, it can only be counted as 0 points. “In addition, the assessment of all agriculture-related projects must be linked to it. If one item is not completed, all are considered failing.” Liu Boyue said.

Liu Boyue believes that adopting “administrative coercion” is also a last resort. At present, Taojiang's grain production situation is grim. In addition to excessively low comparative returns, it also faces the following pressures: first, high-quality arable land is continuously decreasing, and arable land supplemented through the balance of occupation and compensation is difficult to bring up to standard. Second, cash crops are expanding rapidly. Along the provincial road from Yiyang City to Taojiang County, almost both sides are planted with fruit trees and nursery stock. Third, infrastructure is weak. Last year, one quarter of the county's grain fields were submerged due to floods.

Sacrificing Soil Fertility and Grain Quality for Increased Output

“Grain production depends on major counties, and major counties depend on large-scale growers.” Large grain growers will become the main force in China's grain production in the not-too-distant future. Strengthening the “internal motivation” of grain production will also mainly depend on large grain growers in the future. However, due to the long-standing guiding ideology of “quantity as the key” and the pressure to increase output brought by continuously rising costs, large grain growers have no choice but to maintain high yields through excessive use of agricultural inputs.

Many large grain growers told reporters that in recent years the increase in grain production costs has been much higher than the increase in grain prices, so they can only stabilize returns by raising per-unit yields. Although they know it will have adverse effects on arable land fertility and grain quality, they still use more and more chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Taking herbicides as an example, one large grain grower told reporters that although some imported herbicides now have very good weeding effects, they are highly toxic, so much so that they dare not let poultry roam freely in the fields. And in order to maintain the weeding effect, the dosage is used more and more heavily.

“(Herbicide) In the first year, 20 grams per mu can solve the problem; in the second year, it takes 50 grams; in the third year, 70 grams; and in the fourth or fifth year, you have to switch to another brand for it to work. Sometimes when too much is used, even we ourselves feel afraid.” A large grain grower told reporters that some people even use “folk remedies,” spraying highly toxic pesticides on mature rice to shorten the grain drying time and reduce losses.

Hunan Province's rice output has long accounted for about 14 percent of the national total, but its per capita arable land is only 0.8 mu, and arable land quality is showing a declining trend. At present, Hunan Province has about 18 million mu of high-yield fields, while medium-yield and low-yield fields exceed 27 million mu and 10 million mu respectively, with the two together approaching two thirds. According to statistics from relevant departments, soil acidification in Hunan Province has clearly accelerated, and the pH value of arable land soil has dropped from 6.5 in the 1980s to the current 6.0. The plow layer of rice fields has generally become shallower, decreasing from 16.5 cm in the 1980s to about 13 cm at present. In recent years, the province's agricultural chemical fertilizer application has remained at about 8.5 million tons, pesticide use has exceeded 120,000 tons, and agricultural plastic film use has reached 80,000 tons, while the seasonal utilization rates of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers by major crops are only 30 percent, 25.9 percent and 36.7 percent respectively, and the pesticide utilization rate is only about 30 percent.

An official from the Hunan Provincial Agriculture Commission said that because farmland infrastructure in many major grain-producing counties has aged and drainage conditions are poor, large numbers of rice fields are left as simple flooded fallow fields or winter-soaked fields over winter, losing the regular annual process of alternating wet and dry soil. The gleyization and secondary gleyization of rice fields have intensified year by year, and the area of gleyized rice fields in the province is currently close to 8.5 million mu. Severe farmland degradation has led to a continuous decline in the basic soil fertility, and the soil is becoming more “hungry for fertilizer, labor and water.” Increasing output depends on using more chemical fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural film and irrigation water. If this continues over the long term, sustainable agricultural development will be difficult to maintain.

In March this year, Liu Zonglin, director of the Hunan Provincial Agriculture Commission, said that starting this year Hunan Province will deeply promote soil testing and formulated fertilization and pesticide reduction and pest control, and will increase efforts to subsidize and demonstrate the promotion of low-toxicity biological pesticides. At the same time, it will encourage and promote the use of green prevention and control technologies such as bio-organic fertilizers, low-toxicity and low-residue pesticides, and biological pesticides, and strive to achieve “zero growth” in the province's use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.