How to Find New Growth Points in the Context of Food Security
At the start of the new year, the public discussion about potato becoming the fourth major staple crop has attracted much attention. Relevant leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture estimate that by 2020, more than 50% of China's potatoes may be consumed as a staple food. The potato planting area will increase from the current 80 million mu to 150 million mu.
Zhejiang is an active province in promoting the use of potato as a staple food. Since 2013, the province has issued policies and allocated 50 million yuan in support funds each year to vigorously promote dryland grain production, including potatoes.
Why is Zhejiang making great efforts to promote dryland grain production, and what considerations and measures does Zhejiang have on the issue of making potato a staple food? A reporter recently interviewed Vice Governor Huang Xuming.
⟦NL> Reporter: As is well known, Zhejiang is not a major potato-producing area. Compared with places such as Gansu and Ningxia, it is not only smaller in scale, but also has no advantage in yield, technology, and other aspects. Why does Zhejiang encourage dryland grain production and potato planting?
Huang Xuming: In the final analysis, this is Zhejiang's strategic choice for ensuring food security.
Zhejiang has many people and little land, many mountains and few fields. Its 55 million permanent residents have less than 30 million mu of cultivated land, and there are also more than 20 million floating population from outside the province. Under such circumstances, Zhejiang's agriculture can only take the path of high efficiency and ecology. With 1.1% of the country's territory and 1.49% of its cultivated land, Zhejiang has created 3.1% of the country's agricultural added value.
Zhejiang is a grain-deficient province, and ensuring food security has always been a “top priority.” On food security, we have “three red lines,” namely maintaining a grain production capacity of 30 billion jin and striving for 19.5 million mu of sown area and a total output of 16 billion jin. The provincial government issues grain support policies every year. Since 2012, the annual increase in provincial financial support funds has been above 20%.
Once grain production is relaxed, it is very difficult to restore. Zhejiang's food security must take a diversified path and must seek new growth points. This is dryland grain.
Reporter: At present, farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain is generally not high. Against this background, Zhejiang has proposed developing dryland grain production. What are the specific considerations?
Huang Xuming: First, from the perspective of grain composition, Zhejiang's rice area and output have little room for major growth, so the development of dryland grain must be accelerated. At present, affected by industrialization and urbanization, Zhejiang loses more than 100,000 mu of paddy fields each year; at the same time, because rice cultivation has low comparative benefits, complex agronomy, and high labor intensity, the sown area has generally declined, decreasing by an average of 120,000 mu per year in recent years. In recent years, Zhejiang has mainly relied on increasing per-unit yield to stabilize grain output, but the room for increasing per-unit yield is limited after all. In addition, based on Zhejiang's existing water resources, achieving a grain output of 30 billion jin would require more than 4 billion cubic meters of additional irrigation water. Therefore, dryland grain crops that require less water must be developed.
Second, from the perspective of yield increase potential, dryland grain has considerable room for improvement. According to estimates, Zhejiang still has about 2 million mu of growth potential for dryland grain. However, dryland grain has long been neglected, and the province's average per-unit yield of dryland grain is only 514 jin. As long as infrastructure is improved and “three new” technologies are applied, per-unit yield can be greatly increased. Zhejiang's fresh potato average yield per mu is nearly 1,500 kg, with the highest reaching 3,221 kg, and sweet potato yields per mu have reached 4,000 kg. From this perspective, supporting the development of dryland grain has the greatest marginal effect and the greatest potential.
Third, from the perspective of functional role, dryland grain has broad development prospects. How to resolve the contradiction between “the government wants grain” and “farmers want money”? Developing dryland grain is an effective way. For fresh corn, potatoes, broad beans and peas, and small sweet potatoes, the average net income per mu per season can be as high as more than 3,000 yuan, and at the low end more than 2,000 yuan. Generally, the output value per mu of spring and autumn potatoes is commonly above 1,000 yuan, and the output value per mu of facility-grown potatoes exceeds 5,000 yuan.
Eggs cannot be put in one basket. We believe that ensuring food security must adhere to a diversified grain structure. Keeping more options in reserve provides an extra layer of security.
Reporter: It seems that developing dryland grain is indeed necessary and feasible. So may I ask, what practices does Zhejiang have in developing dryland grain production? Are the effects obvious?
Huang Xuming: In September 2013, the provincial government issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Dryland Grain Production,” allocating more than 50 million yuan in support funds each year, incorporating dryland grain production into the food security responsibility system assessment, and convening meetings twice to mobilize and deploy it. After more than a year of vigorous promotion, Zhejiang's dryland grain industry has achieved remarkable results. The province's dryland grain area reached 6.64 million mu, accounting for 35% of the grain sown area, an increase of 264,000 mu over the previous year. Among this, potatoes were nearly 1 million mu, up 4.6% over the previous year. Potatoes have become Zhejiang's fourth major grain crop after rice, wheat, and soybeans. According to the winter planting intention survey, Zhejiang's spring potato planting area in 2015 is expected to increase by more than 5% over the previous year.
Reporter: Will developing potatoes and other dryland grains affect other grain crops? What issues should we pay attention to?
Huang Xuming: First, adhere to equal treatment for the same grain and increase policy support and work promotion. Since dryland grain is part of grain, it should enjoy the same support policies as rice. We stipulate that for dryland grain production bases of more than 100 mu, the provincial finance department directly subsidizes 125 yuan per mu, the same standard as rice; for intercropping dryland grain crops of more than 100 mu in orchards, mulberry fields, and young sparse forest land, 20 yuan per mu is directly subsidized; for creating provincial-level demonstration bases, the province also gives strong support in infrastructure construction and other aspects.
Second, adhere to not competing with rice for land and scientifically arrange dryland grain production. Rice remains the largest grain crop and the mainstay of ensuring food security, and this cannot be shaken. In the planning, layout, and policy support for dryland grain production, we adhere to the principle of not competing with rice for land. For example, no subsidy is given for planting dryland grain on paddy fields, while subsidies are given for intercropping dryland grain in the “three gardens”; the order reward for wheat is piloted in non-main early rice production areas, and so on. We guide all localities to focus on winter fallow fields, dry land, newly reclaimed cultivated land, and low hilly and gentle slope mountainous land, scientifically arrange the development of dryland grain crops that are suitable for planting and have distinctive features and advantages, and strive to cultivate regionalized, large-scale, and distinctive dryland grain industry belts.
Third, adhere to market orientation and promote industrialized operation of dryland grain. We adhere to placing equal emphasis on quantity, quality, and efficiency, comprehensively consider post-production sales, processing, and other links, focus on cultivating dryland grain processing enterprises with strong driving capacity and post-production processing capacity, promote storage and preservation, cold-chain transportation, processing development, and transformation and utilization of dryland grain products, improve the industrial chain, and guide them to establish production-processing-sales cooperative relationships with farmers through orders and other forms, so as to make regional advantageous and distinctive dryland grain industries bigger and stronger; adhere to determining production by sales, connecting production and sales, and marketing first, actively build public marketing platforms, and promote farmers' increased production and income.
Reporter: At present, the functional role of potatoes and their important position in food security have not yet been widely recognized, and the production level and industrialization level need to be improved. What suggestions do you have?
Huang Xuming: First, increase publicity and promotion of potatoes, so that more people understand potatoes, consume potatoes, and expand the potato product market. Second, increase policy support and guidance. In 2008, the State Council issued opinions to promote the development of the edible vegetable oil industry, and also held a national on-site meeting on camellia oil production to deploy it. The support was very strong, and the camellia oil industry therefore developed very quickly. It is suggested that the State Council refer to the camellia oil industry and issue several policies to support production and processing. Third, elevate the status of potatoes in food security. Since potatoes are to be used as a staple food, potatoes should be included as a grain reserve variety. According to reports, whole potato flour can be stored for 15 years, and the reserve cost is greatly lower than other varieties, and it is also conducive to the development of the potato industry.