Food production must never be treated lightly at any time
As China's economy enters a new normal, new changes and new characteristics have also emerged in the grain sector. In early January 2015, at the national grain circulation work conference convened by the State Administration of Grain, Ren Zhengxiao, director of the State Administration of Grain, described “the 2014 grain market situation as complex and intricate, with unprecedented pressure on purchasing and storage, and with arduous and heavy tasks for reform and development”.
As a country with a large population, China has always attached importance to food security. This requires the central and local governments to share responsibility. At the end of last year, the State Council issued the first dedicated document to fully implement local government responsibility for food security. At present, 10 provinces have issued implementation opinions. Among them, 4 provinces have incorporated it into the government target responsibility assessment system, and 5 provinces have adopted methods such as signing food security responsibility statements level by level and establishing a food security supervision and assessment mechanism to implement food security responsibilities.
Ren Zhengxiao said that this year is the first year for fully implementing the document. In accordance with the requirements of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Grain are working with relevant departments to promptly formulate supervision and assessment measures, and will regularly organize assessments of the implementation of the provincial governor responsibility system for food security by each provincial-level people's government.
He said that China's basic national conditions of having many people, little land and scarce water will make it increasingly difficult to continue stabilizing and increasing grain production, and the traditional and non-traditional constraints affecting food security will become increasingly prominent. Ensuring national food security still faces enormous pressure and challenges. Once problems arise in grain production, it may take several years to recover, and this absolutely must not be treated lightly.
Some places are relaxing grain production
Daily: At the end of last year, the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security." This is the first dedicated document issued by the State Council to fully implement local government responsibility for food security. What is the background for issuing the opinions? How have local governments and grain departments implemented them in the more than half a year since the opinions were issued?
Ren Zhengxiao: Food is the first necessity of the people. Food security is an important foundation for achieving economic development, social stability and national security. For a large country like ours with a population of more than 1.3 billion, ensuring that people have enough to eat has always been a top priority in governance. Since China fully liberalized the grain purchasing and selling market in 2004, all regions, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, have actively fulfilled responsibilities for grain production, circulation and reserves, and the overall situation of grain work has been relatively good. However, after grain production achieved “eleven consecutive increases”, continuing to stabilize and increase production faces more difficulties and greater challenges. At the same time, against the background of consecutive years of bumper grain harvests and the current relatively loose supply and demand for some grain varieties, some places are relaxing grain production and neglecting grain circulation, and their awareness of consciously assuming responsibility for safeguarding national food security needs to be further strengthened.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the central government has raised ensuring national food security to a new height, clearly proposing the implementation of the national food security strategy of “taking self-reliance as the mainstay, basing ourselves on domestic production, ensuring production capacity, importing appropriately, and relying on scientific and technological support,” and emphasizing that safeguarding national food security must be upheld as the primary task in economic work and in advancing agricultural modernization, ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple foods. In particular, General Secretary Xi Jinping has issued a series of important instructions on safeguarding national food security, emphasizing that “the Chinese people's rice bowl must always be firmly held in our own hands” and that “our rice bowl should mainly contain Chinese grain.” In safeguarding national food security, the central government bears the primary responsibility, and the people's governments of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) bear the main responsibility for safeguarding food security in their regions. Therefore, after careful investigation and study and fully soliciting opinions from local people's governments and relevant national departments, the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security" (Guo Fa [2014] No. 69), further clarifying the authority and responsibilities of each provincial-level people's government in safeguarding regional food security, and making comprehensive arrangements for establishing and improving the provincial governor responsibility system for food security.
The provincial governor responsibility system for food security is a basic system for safeguarding national food security. The issuance of State Council Document No. 69 is a milestone event in China's grain work in the new period. At present, 10 provinces have issued implementation opinions, and other provincial-level people's governments are also promptly studying and formulating implementation opinions; 4 provinces have incorporated food security responsibilities into the government target responsibility assessment system, and 5 provinces have adopted methods such as signing food security responsibility statements level by level and establishing a food security supervision and assessment mechanism to implement food security responsibilities.
2015 is the first year for fully implementing the State Council's "Several Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security." In accordance with the requirements of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Grain are working with relevant departments to promptly formulate supervision and assessment measures, and will regularly organize assessments of the implementation of the provincial governor responsibility system for food security by each provincial-level people's government.
One cannot simply say the quantity of grain is “too much” or “not enough”
Daily: During this year's “Two Sessions,” some members of agricultural groups said “there is too much grain,” while others said “grain is not too much but still not enough.” So is there too much grain, or not enough? Why?
Ren Zhengxiao: For a large country like ours with a population of more than 1.3 billion, to “hold the rice bowl firmly in our own hands,” stable grain production capacity, sufficient grain reserves, and a smooth and efficient purchasing, storage and supply system are all indispensable. Any judgment we make about the food security situation must comprehensively consider the above factors and be carefully analyzed in light of economic, energy, financial and other conditions, rather than simply saying the quantity of grain is “too much” or “not enough.”
The two statements you mentioned each reflect only part of the current grain supply and demand situation from a certain angle.
First, “too much.” In recent years, both international and domestic grain harvests have been bumper year after year, the growth rate of global grain consumption, especially industrial consumption, has slowed markedly, and domestic policy-based grain purchases and inventories have continued to increase. Some grain varieties, such as corn and rice, show a situation of “three highs overlapping”: high output, high purchases and high inventories, and some major grain-producing areas face enormous purchasing and storage pressure. From this angle, it seems there is “too much” grain.
Now for “not enough.” Overall, although China's total grain supply and demand are basically balanced, regional distribution is very uneven, and differences among varieties are also large. From the perspective of regional distribution, China's 13 major grain-producing areas account for 76% of the national total output, among which 7 northern major producing areas - Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Henan - account for nearly 50% of the national total output. Grain inventories in major producing areas and major sales areas account for 71% and 9% of the national total respectively, while consumption accounts for 62% and 17% respectively. From the perspective of variety structure, apart from corn and rice showing stage-specific oversupply characteristics, wheat has had production fall short of demand for 4 consecutive years, and the gap between soybean production and demand remains very large, with a very high degree of dependence on foreign sources. From this angle, grain in some regions and some varieties is indeed “not enough.”
At the same time, from a long-term perspective, the foundation of China's food security is not solid, and food security still faces many unstable and uncertain factors. At present, China's per capita grain possession is still less than 900 jin, only about one-third that of developed countries. With population growth and the rapid advance of industrialization and urbanization, demand for grain consumption will maintain rigid growth, while China's basic national conditions of having many people, little land and scarce water will make it increasingly difficult to continue stabilizing and increasing grain production. The traditional and non-traditional constraints affecting food security will become increasingly prominent, and ensuring national food security still faces enormous pressure and challenges. Once problems arise in grain production, it may take several years to recover, and this absolutely must not be treated lightly.
Therefore, at present it is necessary both to properly solve the problems of inventory backlogs of some grain varieties and heavy purchasing and storage pressure in major producing areas, and to maintain a clear mind and never relax the string of food security, never lightly saying “there is too much grain” at any time. We must adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, proactively adapt to the new normal of economic development, closely focus on the primary task of safeguarding national food security, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and the modernization of grain circulation capacity, fully implement food security responsibilities, ensure basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple foods, and provide strong support for the sustained and healthy development of the economy and society.