China's grain output this year must be kept stable at over 1.1 trillion jin

Premier Li Keqiang's government work report proposed that this year's grain output must be kept stable at over 1.1 trillion jin, to ensure food security and the supply of major agricultural products. Deputies and members of the committees said that agricultural infrastructure construction must be effectively accelerated, and agricultural modernization and rural reform advanced, to ensure food security and the transformation of the agricultural development model.

“The report mentions that last year's grain output reached 1.21 trillion jin. We have already achieved an ‘eleven consecutive increases’ in grain output, and this year's proposed grain output target is to keep it stable at over 1.1 trillion jin. I hope grain output can grow steadily, because the population keeps increasing.” said Chen Zhangliang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology.

At present, China's agriculture faces challenges such as tightening resource and environmental constraints, rural hollowing out, and prices and costs of agricultural products higher than those abroad. The report points out that the work of designating permanent basic farmland should be carried out in an all-round way, land consolidation should be advanced, 200 million mu of subsoiled land should be added, basic construction of farmland water conservancy should be strengthened, and farmers should be guided to adjust their planting and breeding structures in light of the market.

Wan Lianbu, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Kingenta Group, said that the improvement of cultivated land quality should be accelerated, integrated water and fertilizer technology should be promoted, water-saving agriculture should be developed, and the sustainable development of agriculture should be promoted.

Stabilizing grain production requires solving the problem of “who farms the land”. Niu Dun, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice minister of agriculture, said that on the basis of stabilizing household operations, support should be given to the development of new types of business entities such as large planting and breeding households, family farms and ranches, farmer cooperatives, and leading industrialized enterprises, new-type professional farmers should be cultivated, and various forms of appropriately scaled operations should be advanced.

To ensure food security and advance agricultural modernization, reform is the key. “The work report has made arrangements for land rights confirmation and the reform of the rural ‘three plots of land’. Land transfer must be carried out properly to prevent farmers from losing their land and to prevent land from becoming ‘non-grain’ or ‘non-agricultural’. The government must strengthen oversight to safeguard farmers' interests and food security.” said committee member Chen Zhangliang.

The report makes clear that the problem of pesticide and veterinary drug residues should be comprehensively addressed, and the quality of agricultural products and the level of food safety should be comprehensively raised. “Ordinary people care greatly about the quality and safety of food such as grain, and great efforts must be made to address this.” said Lei Dongzhu, a deputy to the National People's Congress and vice president of Chenzhou No. 1 People's Hospital.