The food security situation is very good, and Chinese agriculture should reduce pressure and ease its burden
On the afternoon of March 6, the Third Session of the 12th National People's Congress held a press conference, at which Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong answered questions from Chinese and foreign journalists on issues related to “advancing reform and innovation and accelerating the building of modern agriculture.”
The current food security situation is very good
Yu Xinrong said that China's current food security situation is very good. Last year, both total grain output and per-unit yield reached new highs, while at the same time China's grain imports have been continuously increasing, with total imports last year of about 100 million tonnes. More than 70% of the total imports were soybeans, reaching 7.14 million tonnes. Grain imports were only 19.52 million tonnes, accounting for just 3.2% of total grain output that year. Among these, imports of corn and wheat both declined, and only rice and some industrial-use grains such as sorghum and barley increased. He analysed that grain imports were mainly because international market grain prices were generally lower than domestic ones. In addition, domestic demand for grain has become increasingly diverse, no longer simply limited to staple food, as industrial and other uses of grain are also increasing.
“We have firm confidence in achieving the goal of mainly filling our rice bowl with Chinese grain.” Yu Xinrong said that in the future, food security will highlight the “two protections” and do a good job in the “two enhancements.” For the “two protections,” first, it is necessary to protect the enthusiasm of the broad masses of farmers for farming and growing grain, so that grain production becomes a respected profession that can make people wealthy; second, it is necessary to protect the enthusiasm of local governments in major grain-producing areas for emphasising agriculture and grasping grain production, and increase support for major grain-producing areas. For the “two enhancements,” first, it is necessary to enhance the capacity for basic grain security, guard the red line of cultivated land, plan permanent basic farmland well, and build a batch of high-standard farmland that guarantees harvests despite drought or waterlogging, so as to store grain in the land; at the same time, it is necessary to enhance the supporting capacity of science and technology, accelerate the development of the modern seed industry, and promote the application of agricultural science and technology, so as to store grain in technology.
Agricultural structural adjustment highlights ecological protection
In response to a question from an Economic Daily reporter about sustainable agricultural development and structural adjustment, Yu Xinrong said that although Chinese agriculture has achieved consecutive years of bumper harvests, it is under enormous pressure in terms of production methods and agricultural structure, and agricultural natural resources have already reached the point of severe overdraft, so agriculture has reached the time when it needs to reduce pressure and ease its burden. Therefore, to advance agricultural modernisation, it is necessary to place transformation of methods and structural adjustment in an important position.
⟦NL> Yu Xinrong said that in structural adjustment, especially ecological protection must be highlighted. The Ministry of Agriculture will rapidly launch and continuously implement a tough battle against agricultural non-point source pollution across the country, launch and implement an action for zero growth in the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and strive to achieve zero growth in the total use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers by 2020; establish mechanisms including agricultural film treatment, manure treatment and plastic mulch recovery; explore a minimum guarantee red line system for agricultural water use, and launch the implementation of the Northeast black soil protection project and the sustainable agricultural development plan for the arid areas of the Northwest.
“This transformation of methods and structural adjustment is a decision made by the state in coordinating the two markets and two types of resources, domestic and international, and taking into account multiple factors such as production, the market and ecology. It is not a forced transformation, but an active one. China's grain output has remained stable at more than 1.1 trillion jin for 4 consecutive years, which gives greater room for manoeuvre in structural adjustment, so as to solve some prominent problems currently facing agriculture and push agriculture from competing on resource consumption, competing on input of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and competing on the ecological environment to placing equal emphasis on output, quality and efficiency, and to intensification, conservation and innovation.” Yu Xinrong said.
According to the introduction, structural adjustment requires both optimising the planting and breeding structure and accelerating the development of animal husbandry, and also optimising the quality structure to lay the foundation for the quality and safety of agricultural products. In structural adjustment, the Ministry of Agriculture will increase the cultivation of new types of agricultural business entities, increase financial and insurance support for agriculture, and launch full-process agricultural social services; continue to advance innovation in the seed industry system and mechanism, increase research on green yield-increasing models for grain, and carry out full-process mechanisation of major crops.
Promote genetically modified organisms cautiously
Yu Xinrong also responded to questions from foreign media on the issue of genetically modified organisms. He said that the Ministry of Agriculture's attitude towards the issue of genetically modified organisms is clear: first, in research, actively support independent innovation and occupy the commanding heights of agricultural biotechnology; second, be cautious in promotion and ensure safety; third, manage according to law.
“At present, people have doubts and debates about genetically modified organisms. From the perspective of the history of human scientific and technological progress, this is a normal phenomenon. This year the central government proposed strengthening research on genetically modified biotechnology, safety management and science popularisation. I think that with the deepening of science popularisation and the development of practice, the public's doubts can gradually weaken.” Yu Xinrong said that as an important new biotechnology, genetically modified organisms have not been around for a long time, and society has a process of continuously deepening its understanding of them. Genetically modified organisms are a new technology and a new industry with broad development prospects. China is a major consumer of agricultural products, with many people, little land and scarce water, frequent droughts and floods, and a high incidence of pests and diseases. In order to ensure the long-term effective supply of major agricultural products, it must take the path of scientific and technological innovation, which includes necessarily occupying a place in this high-tech field of genetically modified organisms.
It is reported that at present, China has only approved the commercial planting of genetically modified cotton and papaya, and has not approved the commercial production of any genetically modified staple grain. In the future, the Ministry of Agriculture will follow the promotion steps of “non-edible—indirectly edible—edible” and cautiously carry out promotion and application. At the same time, the Chinese government has always adhered to information disclosure on genetically modified organisms, and has made public information on all laws and regulations, safety evaluation standards, approval results and other information related to agricultural genetically modified organisms. At present, the biosafety management of agricultural genetically modified organisms is standardised and orderly, and generally controllable. The Ministry of Agriculture has issued the Standard for the Labelling of Agricultural Genetically Modified Organisms, and in accordance with the law implements mandatory labelling by catalogue for 17 products of 5 categories of crops, including genetically modified soybean, corn, rapeseed, cotton and tomato.