Food security urgently needs a new supply structure
Food is the foundation of the national economy, and food security bears on the overall stability of the country, while guaranteeing food security ultimately depends on food production. As the trends of “part-time farming” and “de-grainization” become increasingly pronounced, the issue of food security has become an important issue for China's future development. During the summer vacation of 2013, a research team from the China Rural Research Institute of Central China Normal University conducted random sampling of more than 3,000 farming households in more than 200 villages across 31 provinces, and carried out a special study on “new-type agricultural management entities and food security,” producing a related special report.
“Who is growing grain”: the current state of grain supply by new-type management entities
(1) The grain supply structure of new-type management entities has not yet been established. The survey found, first, that household management dominated by smallholders remains the main body of grain growing. Among the 3,993 valid samples nationwide, new-type agricultural management entities accounted for only 3.66%. Second, the grain supply structure of new-type management entities has not yet taken shape. Among them, large growers accounted for 63.01%, members of agricultural professional cooperatives accounted for 25.34%, and the proportions of family farms and agricultural enterprises were 8.90% and 2.74% respectively. In summary, the structure of new-type agricultural management entities based on household management has a certain foundation, but the various types of entities develop unevenly, and the structure of new-type management entities has not yet been established.
(2) The development of grain supply by new-type management entities is insufficient. New-type agricultural management entities show a tendency toward “de-grainization.” Among new-type agricultural management entities, the proportion mainly growing grain crops was 31.39%, while the proportion mainly growing cash crops was slightly higher than that of grain crops, at 32.85%. Further analysis of the main crops grown by different new-type agricultural management entities found that only one quarter of agricultural enterprises mainly engage in grain cultivation. It can be seen that a mainstream of grain growing has not yet coalesced among new-type management entities.
(3) The development of grain supply by new-type management entities is unbalanced. While grain supply by new-type management entities is insufficient, it also shows supply imbalance. On the one hand, the grain-growing scale of large growers is higher than that of other new-type management entities. The grain-growing area of large growers was 84.43 mu, while the grain-growing areas of family farms and members of farmers' professional cooperatives were 12.33 mu and 35.01 mu respectively; on the other hand, the per-household grain output of large growers was far higher than that of other new-type management entities. The per-household total grain output of family farms was 9,953.79 jin, that of members of farmers' professional cooperatives was 7,155.95 jin, while the per-household total grain output of large growers was far higher than that of other types of management entities, with per-household output reaching 24,170.09 jin.
“Why not grow grain”: obstacles to building a new grain supply structure
(1) Land constraints are increasingly serious. In terms of the scale of land transfer, 66.90% of sample farming households participated in land transfer, and the per-household transfer area of new-type management entities was 43.49 mu, accounting for 81.20% of cultivated land area; in terms of the concentration of land transfer, there were 73 households with a land-scale operation of less than 10 mu, accounting for 51.41% of valid samples. It can be seen that the scale of land transfer is not high, and scale returns will also be very limited.
(2) The benefits of policy subsidies are insufficient. The per-household agricultural subsidy amount for new-type agricultural management entities was 2,555.58 yuan, while the per-household production capital input was 31,285.98 yuan, and agricultural subsidies accounted for only 8.17% of production capital.
(3) Grain purchase and sales costs are high. The survey found that in the production and operation process of new-type agricultural management entities, the main difficulty faced by more than 40% of farming households was “high purchase and sales costs.”
(4) Grain-growing returns are low. In 2012, the per-household grain-growing income of new-type agricultural management entities was 28,841.64 yuan, and the per-household cash crop income was 98,340.72 yuan. Further analysis shows that the per-household grain-growing income of new-type management entities accounted for 24.33% of farming income and 14.35% of household income.
“How to grow grain”: focus on building a new grain supply structure
(1) Taking scale differences as a breakthrough, explore diversified development of appropriate-scale operation. Scaling based on different grain crops. In the survey, the rice-growing scale of new-type grain supply entities was 53.72 mu, the corn-growing scale was 41.16 mu, and the wheat-growing scale was 24.25 mu. Scaling based on different entities. The grain-growing scale of large growers was 84.43 mu, that of members of farmers' professional cooperatives was 35.01 mu, and that of family farms was 12.33 mu. Scaling based on economic returns. From the survey data, it can be seen that new-type grain supply entities must grow 7.66 mu of grain crops to bring the returns produced by 1 mu of cash crops; that is, to guide new-type management entities to grow grain through return balance, the land input must be at least 7.66 times that of cash crops.
(2) Taking farmers' willingness as the premise, adhere to the foundational position of household management. For farmers willing to remain in agriculture, guide them to adopt various forms of scale operation, while the government provides complete hardware facilities and software services to achieve high efficiency in modern agriculture. Safeguard the nature of land use and safeguard farmers' rights and interests. Especially when capital enters agriculture, first, the nature of agricultural land use must be safeguarded, and second, farmers' rights and interests must be safeguarded.
(3) Taking the promotion of land transfer as the key, advance the intensive use of production factors. Clarify farmers' land rights and interests, improve the benefit distribution mechanism, stabilize land transfer relationships, protect the lawful rights and interests of both parties, and strengthen land transfer services and management.
(4) Relying on rural financial reform, enhance agriculture's ability to withstand risks. Accelerate the development of small and medium-sized rural financial systems. Innovate rural credit guarantee methods, and support scale-operation entities in participating in agricultural insurance. Increase the proportion of fiscal premium subsidies for new-type management entities purchasing agricultural insurance, and accelerate pilot work on facility agriculture insurance.
(5) Taking policy support as the guarantee, increase support for new-type management entities. First, establish a priority system for agricultural projects in land transfer. Combine agriculture-related projects such as rural land consolidation, standard farmland construction, and comprehensive agricultural development with land transfer scale operation, and arrange project funds with priority and focus. Second, increase direct subsidies to new-type management entities. On the basis of existing subsidy categories, add new subsidies tilted toward scale operation, and directly subsidize new-type entities such as large growers and breeders. Third, strengthen the national minimum grain purchase price policy and grain purchase quality standards. On the one hand, strengthen information services and guide farmers to form reasonable price expectations; on the other hand, increase supervision, continue to give play to the role of multi-channel purchasing, and invigorate grain circulation.
(6) Take multiple measures simultaneously to strengthen the building of a talent team for new-type management entities. First, strengthen the training of workers within rural areas. Mainly target the first generation of returning migrant workers and rural capable people such as large growers and breeders, family farm owners, and chairpersons of farmers' professional cooperatives; develop agricultural vocational education and organize various forms of agricultural technical training. Second, introduce external talent. Formulate preferential policies to attract junior college and university graduates, professional and technical personnel, and others to take root in rural areas and devote themselves to agriculture.