Multiple measures for quality grain production show boundless vitality
Against the backdrop of consecutive years of bumper grain harvests domestically and cheap grain from the international market flooding into the domestic market, China's grain market seems to have entered a prolonged “cold winter” period. The pattern of strong paddy but weak rice, and strong wheat but weak flour is becoming increasingly obvious; very few grain processing enterprises are able to operate normally; distributors are increasingly losing interest in domestically produced grain; the “policy-driven” grain purchased and held in state reserves is piling up ever higher; and the unnecessary losses borne by the public finances are growing ever larger. China's grain production and market seem to have entered a “dead end.”
Looking at China's grain production and market as a whole, even in this suffocating situation, there are still some bright spots.
While ordinary wheat is slow to sell, quality wheat is in short supply; ordinary hybrid rice shows no improvement, yet quality rice keeps rising.
To change the current passive situation of China's grain production and market, the state and grain enterprises need to take multiple measures simultaneously.
Adhere to quality-based pricing and adjust grain procurement policy
Under market economy conditions, the leverage effect of price on agricultural products is extremely obvious. As one of the important agricultural products, grain is no exception. For China's policy-driven grain procurement prices, such as minimum purchase price grain, grain reserves at all levels, and temporary storage grain, wheat and paddy have been subject to the same price for the same variety since 2012. At present, China's policy-driven wheat procurement price applies the same price regardless of whether it is white wheat, red wheat, or mixed wheat; the policy-driven paddy procurement price is divided into early paddy, mid-to-late paddy, and japonica paddy, with the same price for the same variety.
The yield difference between quality grain production and ordinary grain production determines that the same price for the same variety cannot stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for growing quality grain.
Under current scientific and technological conditions, what we usually call ordinary grain has a higher yield than quality grain. For example, in Huangmei County, Tianmen City, Xiantao City, and other major quality paddy-producing areas in Hubei Province, the yield of ordinary hybrid rice is about 30% higher than that of the quality rice variety Huanghuazhan. If calculated according to the 2015 minimum purchase price for mid-to-late indica rice at 1.38 yuan per jin for the medium grade, each mu of ordinary hybrid rice generates more than 500 yuan more income than the quality rice Huanghuazhan.
When farmers put in the same labor, or even greater labor input, those growing quality paddy still earn less than those growing ordinary hybrid paddy, so farmers will naturally not choose to grow quality grain.
Today's farmers, who have a high degree of autonomy in choosing what crops to grow, are very sensitive to market prices for agricultural products. Whatever variety of agricultural product has good market prices is what they plant; whatever variety has weak market prices, they unhesitatingly adjust their planting structure and switch to crops with good market conditions.
To stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for growing quality grain, it is necessary to adapt to the laws of the market economy and use the price lever to guide farmers, and it is very necessary to adjust grain procurement policy. Whether wheat or paddy, quality should be distinguished. Achieve higher prices for better quality and lower prices for poorer quality, so that farmers growing quality grain receive tangible benefits.
After the policy-driven grain procurement policy is adjusted, auction prices should be raised accordingly at auction. Because the grain can sell well, grain processing enterprises are also willing to bid. In this way, farmers, enterprises, the state, and consumers each get what they need, and everyone is happy.
Adhere to adapting measures to local conditions and change the method of rotating reserve grain
Different grain qualities have different storage periods. Generally speaking, the storage period of quality grain is somewhat shorter than that of ordinary grain. This is especially obvious for paddy.
In China's grain management system, grain reserves at all levels account for a fairly large proportion. The rotation cycle of reserve grain directly determines the quality of the grain.
According to current policy, the rotation period for reserve paddy and wheat is generally 3 years or 4 years. According to this period, the quality of quality grain, such as quality paddy varieties, will decline and cannot fetch a good price.
To maintain the quality of quality grain, it is necessary to adjust the storage period of reserve grain. For quality paddy, shorten the storage period and rotate it in a timely manner to maximize the utilization rate of quality grain.
Adhere to starting from the source and serve quality grain production
In an open grain market, developing quality grain production by relying only on state policy is far from enough. As market entities, grain enterprises should actively participate and play an important role in it.
Vigorously develop quality grain production cooperatives
Practice has proved that quality grain production, in a certain sense, is large-scale production. Decentralized production by individual households ultimately cannot achieve much.
In view of the characteristics of China's rural areas in the new era, providing socialized services for farmers is an important way to develop quality grain production.
In the socialized service system, grain production cooperatives are an important vehicle for serving quality grain production.
The Shuangfengshou Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative in Xiangzhou District, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, manages or partially manages 85,000 mu of farmland for farmers in Hubei Province and Henan Province, adopting unified seed supply, unified seedling raising, unified fertilization, and unified transplanting, carrying out mechanized operations in the seedling raising and transplanting stages, agreeing on service fees, and collecting them from farmers after the grain is uniformly purchased. The cooperative has established four operation teams: the mechanized plowing team, the mechanized transplanting team, the plant protection team, and the mechanized harvesting team; three centers: the agricultural technology extension center, the agricultural machinery service center, and the agricultural machinery maintenance center; two factories: the brown rice processing factory and the feed processing factory; and one special agricultural product procurement team.
The cooperative's operating model of “enterprise + cooperative + farmer” has achieved the effects of increasing farmers' income, improving agricultural efficiency, enabling enterprises to profit, and benefiting society. Due to insufficient procurement funds, 80% of the procurement volume is first subject to an agreed price that is never lower than the highest market price at any time, and settlement with farmers is made after processing and conversion; the value-added portion after processing and conversion is split between the enterprise and farmers at a ratio of 6:4, with the enterprise receiving 6 parts and farmers receiving 4 parts. With this method, the vast majority of agricultural products can increase in value after processing, and farmers can receive about 5% more value-added at settlement than the agreed price. For three consecutive years recently, the Shuangfengshou Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative has had tens of millions of yuan in procurement volume each year, but has only 240,000 yuan in bank loans. The cooperative has united people's hearts with common interests and further demonstrated the power of cooperation. Through efforts in these aspects, it has achieved the effects of enterprises gaining profit, farmers increasing income, and society benefiting.
Through extensive social channels, grain production cooperatives promptly provide farmers with production information, enabling farmers to grow quality grain varieties that are readily marketable; through agricultural machinery services, they provide farmers with sowing, field management, and harvesting services; and for farmers lacking labor, they provide full-process services so that they can obtain abundant fruits of their labor.