The Sickle Bend region will cut corn acreage by 50 million mu
On November 2, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the “Guiding Opinions on the Structural Adjustment of Corn in the ‘Sickle Bend’ Region”, which will adjust China's corn structure.
Affected by factors such as slowing growth in domestic consumer demand and the impact of imports of substitute products, corn currently exceeds demand, inventories have increased substantially, and planting returns have declined. Based on the corn supply and demand situation and the realities of production development, there is an urgent need to further optimize the planting structure and regional layout and to enhance the efficiency and sustainable development capacity of agriculture.
The so-called “Sickle Bend” region includes the cold Northeast region, the northern agro-pastoral ecotone, the wind-sandy and arid Northwest region, the area along the Taihang Mountains, and the rocky desertification area of the Southwest. On the topographic map, it appears as a sickle-bend-shaped distribution extending from the Northeast to North China, the Southwest, and the Northwest, and it is a key area for corn structural adjustment. This region is a typical dryland farming area and an advantageous area for livestock development, with a fragile ecological environment, and corn yields there are low and unstable.
The opinions propose that by 2020, the corn planting area in the “Sickle Bend” region should be stabilized at 100 million mu, a reduction of more than 50 million mu from the current level, with priority given to developing silage corn, soybeans, high-quality forage grass, miscellaneous grains and miscellaneous beans, spring wheat, economic forests and fruit trees, and ecologically functional plants.
The opinions clearly set out the characteristics of the key areas and the main direction of the corn structural adjustment in the “Sickle Bend” region. Among them, for the rocky desertification area of the Southwest (with the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau as the main body, including Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces (regions)), in conjunction with implementing the national policy of returning farmland to forest and grassland, corn planting on sloping land and in areas lacking irrigation security will be reduced, and miscellaneous grains and miscellaneous beans, tea, walnuts, oil tea, Chinese medicinal materials, etc. will be actively developed; grassy hills and slopes will be improved, and fodder hemp, fodder mulberry, oilseed tiger nut for both fodder and oil, and artificial grassland will be developed to support the development of local herbivorous livestock husbandry. The goal is to reduce grain corn by 5 million mu by 2020.