Food security is the top priority for the development of the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

On the 8th, the “Yangtze Forum” co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the People's Government of Hubei Province was held in Wuhan. At the meeting, Li Peilin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in terms of development models, the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River must pay special attention to food security and explore a new path for building an urban agglomeration that protects agriculture and farmland.

Since the reform and opening up, the three major urban agglomerations of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei have developed rapidly. Li Peilin said that behind the rise of the three major urban agglomerations, grain output and farmland area have been continuously shrinking, and the proportion of grain output in the country's total grain output, as well as the proportion of grain crop sown area in the country, has been declining.

⟦NL> Li Peilin said that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, as a traditional major grain-producing area and a national grain production base, has a grain sown area in its four provinces far exceeding the total grain sown area of the four provinces and three municipalities of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. But in recent years, grain production in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has been noticeably weak.

“In China's future urbanization process, grain is fundamental. Only by ensuring food security can we remove worries for urbanization construction,” Li Peilin said. The urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River determines its urbanization land requirements by protecting the ecological red line, protecting the farmland red line and ensuring basic grain supply, while fully considering the interest demands of local governments in major grain-producing areas, strengthening the top-level design of the urbanization path, and exploring through planning guidance a new path for building an urban agglomeration that protects agriculture and farmland.