First-quarter agricultural production data released this year: production conditions continue to improve

Data for the first quarter of this year show that after grain production climbed above the 1.2 trillion jin mark for two consecutive years and farmers' income growth exceeded that of urban residents for five consecutive years, the momentum of our country's agricultural and rural economic development remains undiminished. At present, the biggest highlight of the agricultural and rural economy is that grain production has achieved a “good start,” with spring planting area expanded and summer grain growing well.

Planting area is the foundation of grain output. This year the state continued to increase support for grain production, and as market grain prices were basically stable, farmers were motivated to grow grain. According to a National Bureau of Statistics survey of planting intentions among more than 110,000 farming households nationwide, the intended national planting area for rice increased by 0.2%, wheat by 0.7%, and corn by 1.9%.

Zeng Yande, director of the Department of Crop Production of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that as of now the condition of seedlings in the main producing areas is good, and in particular the condition of seedlings in Henan and Shandong provinces, which together account for more than 40% of the national wheat area, is noticeably better than last year; spring planting has already begun in the Northeast, and soil moisture is better than last year. At the same time, all localities further optimized the planting structure. Cotton areas in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins reduced cotton and expanded grain, South China reduced sugar and expanded grain, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River reduced oilseed and expanded wheat, and southern areas developed idle winter fields to expand potato planting.

This spring's grain production has new measures in the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomic techniques, and many new types of entities attach importance to raising the efficiency of agricultural output, with the transformation of agricultural production methods beginning to emerge. In January, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed the strategy of making potatoes a staple grain. Subsequently, the integration of potato machinery and agronomic techniques was accelerated. Wang Anmin, chairman of the Heye Vegetable Cooperative in Suojia Village, Gaoqing County, Shandong, is a large potato grower. Two months ago, he newly put into use a multifunctional potato planter, “very convenient, it can finish planting in 2 hours, and the work efficiency is dozens of times that of manual planting. Machine planting gives consistent depth, accurate plant spacing, and tight film covering, and can increase yield by four hundred jin per mu; it can mature and be harvested in May.”

The good agricultural situation also provides strong support for managing inflation expectations. More than one third of our country's CPI indicator is determined by food prices, and agricultural products are the main source of food. National total grain output reached 1214.2 billion jin, and stocks of major agricultural products are abundant, with some reaching historical highs. Overall, prices of major agricultural products such as grain, pork, and vegetables remain within a reasonable range.

“To stabilize economic growth, we must first stabilize agricultural production and ensure the supply of agricultural products; otherwise an unfavorable situation of lower growth and higher prices may emerge.” Bi Meijia, chief economist of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that at present the good agricultural and rural economic situation has made an important contribution to keeping the economic growth rate within a reasonable range and keeping the increase in prices from exceeding the upper limit.

It can be foreseen that for a fairly long period, agriculture's fundamental position in the national economy will not change, and it will still bear a unique and important role in promoting economic growth, expanding social employment, and stabilizing prices, so support for and protection of agriculture must be continuously increased. In the past, our country's agricultural support policies were mainly placed on increasing the output of agricultural products, while insufficient attention was paid to the carrying capacity of agricultural resources and the environment and to the sustainable development of agriculture; in the future, investment in these two aspects needs to be increased.