Why Promote the Staple-ization of Potatoes After Eleven Consecutive Years of Grain Increases

Recently, some media interviewed a "scholar who has long paid attention to food security" regarding the "staple-ization of potatoes," which is a matter of public concern, and the scholar believes: "This indicates that our country's grain reserves must have encountered problems. It is just that the central government does not say so explicitly and covers up the problem."

Such a major issue concerning the national economy and people's livelihood should receive immediate interpretation and clarification. A reporter from this newspaper today interviewed Dai Xiaofeng, head of the potato staple-ization research group of the Ministry of Agriculture and president of the Institute of Agro-Food Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, asking him to provide rational analysis and judgment on why, after the "eleven consecutive increases" in grain, it is still necessary to pursue the "staple-ization of potatoes."

The Benefits of Potato Staple-ization Are Countless

Science and Technology Daily: Food security is both a matter of "national economy" and connected to the details of "people's livelihood." It is a top concern for ordinary people. As a well-known agricultural science and technology expert, what is your basic judgment on claims such as "problems in grain reserves," especially "covering up the problem"?

Dai Xiaofeng: Potato staple-ization is certainly related to national food security, but in itself it really has no direct relationship with grain reserves. Grain reserves involve another topic, which will not be specially discussed here.

As for "covering up the problem," that is even more baseless. The facts are exactly the opposite: potato staple-ization is precisely the most effective strategic measure taken in direct response to our country's current food security issue. It has a significant positive role in safeguarding national food security, improving agricultural production efficiency and returns, improving the population's physical fitness, and optimizing the ecological environment. It can be said that the benefits of potato staple-ization are too many to count.

Why Do Chinese People "Not Treat Potatoes as Staple Food"?

Science and Technology Daily: Potatoes are so good, and almost everywhere outside the Chinese culinary cultural sphere they are a staple food; yet only in Chinese dietary habits are they "not treated as staple food." Why is that?

Dai Xiaofeng: The potato is an introduced species. After it was introduced from Central America more than 400 years ago, Chinese people have always "not treated potatoes as staple food." Our analysis is that the fundamental reason lies in the fact that the "four main items" of Chinese staple foods -- steamed buns and noodles, which northerners are accustomed to eating, and rice and rice noodles, which southerners are accustomed to eating -- all require secondary processing and shaping, while potato flour, because it does not contain gluten protein, cannot be easily made into steamed buns and noodles like wheat flour, still less into rice and rice noodles like rice; at most it can be made into starch noodles as a side food. In the West, however, mashed potatoes, potato chips, and even unprocessed potato chunks directly steamed or boiled are all staple foods that the public gladly accepts.

The Market Is Forcing Potato Staple-ization

Science and Technology Daily: Chinese people have eaten potatoes as a vegetable for several hundred years; now that grain has had "eleven consecutive increases," the proposal of potato staple-ization instead has probably become the main reason some people in society have doubts about it.

Dai Xiaofeng: In fact, in earlier years some experts already proposed a "small potato, big industry" and suggested staple-ization, but these were only scattered suggestions. The proposal of potato staple-ization as a national-level strategic measure was forced out by the market.

Our country has already achieved "eleven consecutive increases" in grain output, and the basic judgment that "the Chinese people's rice bowl is held in their own hands" is not wrong. But along with consecutive years of abundant grain harvests, grain imports have also increased year after year. In 1996, the White Paper on China's Grain Issue first proposed the goal of a grain self-sufficiency rate of no less than 95%, and the Outline of the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for National Food Security (2008-2020) once again confirmed this goal. But in fact, by 2014, China's grain self-sufficiency rate had fallen to 87%.

However, the industry currently has considerable controversy over the 95% red line. On the one hand, because in the statistical scope of grain, besides the three major ration crops of rice, wheat, and corn, it also includes soybeans, the largest imported category. If soybeans are calculated separately, it should be said that the quantity of imported ration grain is not large, and the requirement that ration grain be basically self-sufficient is consistent with the actual situation. On the other hand, the decline in the grain self-sufficiency rate is the inevitable result of residents' consumption upgrading, participation in the international market, and international division of labor. Experts generally believe that the 95% red line was proposed in the 1990s, and under the new situation, the connotation of food security is not entirely the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago. Therefore, ensuring a relatively high self-sufficiency rate for grain, especially ration grain, is the bottom line; in the future, to further satisfy economic development, population growth, and reduce pressure on the environment and resources, moderate imports of industrial grain, feed grain, and even ration grain will be unavoidable.

Along with the year-after-year increase in grain imports, there is also a peculiar phenomenon: in the last three years, potato imports have increased year after year. This forced relevant decision-makers to become alert: "Do we even have to import potatoes?" At the same time, it prompted people to think and thereby explore possible solutions.