Major agricultural products achieve sustained and effective supply, with equal emphasis on quantity and efficiency
In a country with such a large population as ours, the issue of food is a matter of paramount importance. At present, economic and social development has entered a new historical period. Especially at a time when world economic growth has slowed markedly and the negative impact on our economy is deepening, agricultural and rural economic development has faced the shock head-on and forged ahead against the trend, achieving both a “granary full of grain” and a “basket full of vegetables,” powerfully safeguarding the effective supply of major agricultural products and becoming the “compass” and “ballast stone” that stabilizes the overall situation of economic and social development.
Achieving a “granary full of grain” and ensuring a “basket full of vegetables”
⟦NL> “Judging from grain output and per capita availability, our country's food security situation is generally good at present. The quantity is sufficient, the supply is guaranteed, and people's needs can be met. From the perspective of the balance between supply and demand and the degree of satisfaction of residents, our country's food security situation is generally good at present.” said Song Hongyuan, director of the Rural Economy Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Ensuring the effective supply of grain and other major agricultural products has always been the primary task of agricultural development and the primary responsibility of agricultural departments. In recent years, agricultural departments at all levels have fully mobilized farmers' enthusiasm for production, stabilized grain acreage, promoted good seeds and good methods, raised per-unit yields, and tried every possible means to secure a good grain harvest; comprehensively strengthened comprehensive agricultural production capacity, continuously promoted grain output increases, and filled the “rice bags” of urban and rural residents. In 2014, grain output reached 1.2 trillion jin, double that of 1978, with an average annual growth rate of 1.94%. Per capita grain availability has exceeded 400 kg for 4 consecutive years.
In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture has continued to deepen the new round of “shopping basket” project construction, focusing on production capacity building, strengthening information monitoring and early warning, intensifying monitoring and spot checks, and actively promoting the linkage between production and sales, so that both supply and demand of “shopping basket” products have flourished. In 2014, major agricultural products such as cotton, oil, sugar, fruits, vegetables, tea, meat, eggs, milk, and aquatic products were in ample supply, and the market operated generally smoothly. Throughout the year, there were no major agricultural product quality and safety incidents or major regional animal epidemics.
According to monitoring by the Ministry of Agriculture, as of the end of August this year, 580 key vegetable-producing counties had 1.42 million mu of vegetables in the field, up 9.4% month-on-month; output was 1.11 million tons, up 10.6% month-on-month. In 4,000 pig-farming villages, there were 7.214 million head on hand, with a cumulative 8.522 million head slaughtered. In 100 laying hen-farming counties, there were 15.265 million laying hens on hand, with cumulative egg output of 173,000 tons. The 8,300 milk collection stations involved 5.619 million head of dairy cattle on hand, with the average number on hand per household up 78.0% year-on-year, and cumulative raw milk output of 12.882 million tons, up 4.0% year-on-year. In 250 beef cattle-farming villages, there were 137,000 head of beef cattle on hand, and in 500 sheep-farming villages, there were 4.379 million sheep on hand. According to statistics from 20 major fishery-producing provinces by the Ministry of Agriculture, from January to August, national aquatic product output was 34.314 million tons, up 3.5% year-on-year.
Keeping an eye on vegetable prices while also ensuring safety
The trend of agricultural product prices is a “barometer” affecting the consumer price index, and early warning and monitoring of agricultural product prices is an important “advisor” for ensuring the supply of agricultural products.
On September 14, the Ministry of Agriculture launched in Beijing a pilot program for agricultural information analysis and early warning across the entire industrial chain for 8 varieties, including rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, hogs, beef and mutton, and vegetables. Targeting 14 major producing and major consuming areas including Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning, it selected 1,061 analysts across all links of production, processing, and circulation, and formed a whole-industrial-chain analysis and early warning team to closely monitor the production situation and market price trends of major “shopping basket” products. This has become important information support for promoting agriculture's “transformation of methods and adjustment of structure” in a market-oriented way, and has continuously promoted the improvement of the agricultural product price formation mechanism.
While paying attention to price trends, strictly controlling the quality and safety of fresh agricultural products is even more of a major focus for agricultural departments in ensuring supply. Over the past year, the Ministry of Agriculture deployed risk and hidden danger screening work in key areas, for important varieties, and at key links. Focusing on cases of illegal addition of toxic and harmful substances, slaughter of dead pigs, and production and sale of fake and inferior agricultural inputs, it organized special rectification efforts and strictly guarded against systemic risks. According to recent monitoring by the Ministry of Agriculture of 94 indicators for 96 varieties across 5 major categories of products, including vegetables, fruits, tea, livestock and poultry, and aquatic products, in 152 large and medium-sized cities nationwide, the overall qualification rate was 96.2%. Among them, the monitoring qualification rates for vegetables, livestock and poultry products, and aquatic products were 95.2%, 99.4%, and 94.8%, respectively. The quality and safety level of “shopping basket” products was generally stable.
At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture vigorously promoted the linkage between production and sales of fresh agricultural products and actively responded to problems of unsalable products and difficulty in selling. It further expanded sales channels and guaranteed the market supply of “shopping basket” products.
Emphasizing both quantity and efficiency
While ensuring the supply of agricultural products, localities actively adjusted and optimized the agricultural structure, paid attention to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality, and efficiency, and agricultural products that are high-quality, diversified, and specialized have become increasingly abundant.
Since the beginning of this year, agricultural departments at all levels have paid more attention to innovating agricultural management methods, accelerating the cultivation of new types of agricultural business entities, and building a modern agricultural management system; paid more attention to optimizing and adjusting the agricultural industrial structure, promoting coordinated grain, economic crop, and feed production, combining agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries, integrating planting, breeding, and processing, and integrating the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, to build a modern agricultural industrial system; paid more attention to the quality and safety of agricultural products, promoting standardized and green production, and building a modern agricultural production system; and paid more attention to coordinating the use of both markets and both types of resources, both supporting domestic supply and ecology and protecting domestic industrial development and farmers' interests.
As documents such as the “Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Agriculture on Further Adjusting and Optimizing the Agricultural Structure” were successively issued, pilot work such as grain-soybean rotation, replacing grain with feed, and integration of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries was carried out in an orderly manner. At present, agricultural structural adjustment has entered a new stage, agriculture's diversified functions are constantly being released, and this has also helped farmers' income growth achieve sustained and steady increases.