Food Security: The Chinese People's Rice Bowl Must Be Held Firmly in Our Own Hands

The state takes the people as its foundation, the people take food as their heaven, and food takes grain as its source. Agriculture is the foundation of the national economy, and grain is the foundation of agriculture, making it truly the root of all ages. In contemporary times, the issue of food security concerns the national economy and people's livelihood, concerns social development, and concerns political stability. All countries around the world regard food security as an important component of national economic, political, and social security, and no matter how much it is emphasized, it is never excessive. How to solve the grain problem well and how to ensure national food security has major and far-reaching strategic significance for a large developing country like ours with a population of 1.3 billion, and is even more the foremost task of governance and reassuring the people.

Since the reform and opening up, China's agricultural development has achieved world-renowned accomplishments, the comprehensive grain production capacity has continuously strengthened, and the level of food security guarantee has continuously improved. Especially since entering the new century, China's agriculture has had consecutive bumper harvests, and the supply and demand of major agricultural products have been basically balanced. Since 2004, China's total grain output has achieved "eleven consecutive increases." However, we must also clearly see that with the in-depth development of industrialization and urbanization and the deepening of marketization and globalization, the pressure to achieve a balance between grain supply and demand has increased, and the task of safeguarding national food security is arduous. From a medium- and long-term perspective, the reality that China has many people and little land is difficult to change, the trend of increasing population and decreasing land is difficult to reverse, and the situation of shortage of freshwater resources and unbalanced regional distribution is becoming even more severe; with economic and social development, population growth, changes in dietary structure, and the development of the grain processing industry, the relationship between grain supply and demand is becoming increasingly tight; the international grain supply and demand situation is not optimistic, grain prices fluctuate sharply, and the grain market rises and falls dramatically, all of which will have a profound impact on China's grain supply, demand, and prices. Overall, a relatively tight grain supply and demand in China will become a normal state, and the many hidden worries in safeguarding food security are even more worthy of vigilance and deep reflection. Under the new situation, strengthening and attaching importance to research on external food security issues still has major theoretical and practical significance.

The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed accelerating the development of modern agriculture and ensuring national food security and the effective supply of important agricultural products. The Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2013 emphasized that effectively safeguarding national food security should be taken as the foremost task of economic work. The No. 1 Central Document of 2014 further clearly proposed that it is necessary to promptly build and implement a national food security strategy based on self-reliance, rooted in domestic production, ensuring production capacity, moderate imports, and supported by science and technology. It is necessary to continuously improve the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and ensure that grains are basically self-sufficient and that staple foods are absolutely safe. It is necessary to more actively utilize international agricultural product markets and agricultural resources to effectively regulate and supplement domestic grain supply. While attaching importance to the quantity of grain, it is necessary to pay more attention to quality and safety; while ensuring current supply, it is necessary to pay more attention to the sustainable development of agriculture.

In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Central Economic Work Conference, and the No. 1 Central Document of 2014, and to comprehensively and systematically study the current situation and future of China's food security, China Agriculture Press organized domestic authoritative experts to compile the "China Food Security Issues Research Series." The series consists of 12 volumes in total, and its main contents include: analysis of the grain supply and demand situation, main entities of grain production and operation, grain market circulation, the grain industry chain and supply chain, the food security early warning mechanism, development of major grain-producing areas, the grain futures market, international grain trade, and so on. The series is based on China's national conditions, connects with the international market, closely follows the theme of food security, and deeply analyzes and studies various influencing factors related to food security from multiple angles and aspects. It pays attention to both theoretical analysis and empirical analysis, and puts forward many targeted policy recommendations. The authors of the series are all authoritative experts and scholars in the field of grain issue research. Many of the viewpoints and perspectives in the books are quite innovative and forward-looking, possessing not only high theoretical value but also strong practical guiding significance.

The publication of this series has very important practical significance for enhancing China's comprehensive grain production capacity, ensuring national food security, accelerating the development of major grain-producing areas, promoting increases in farmers' incomes, and advancing agricultural modernization; it also has a positive driving effect on grasping the current situation and characteristics of China's food security, analyzing the problems and challenges facing China's food security under the new situation, and studying countermeasures and measures to solve China's food security problems. This series can serve both as reference material for the broad ranks of cadres, staff, and scientific and technological workers on China's agricultural front to study and research China's food security issues, and as a reference for relevant departments in formulating and improving China's food security strategy and policy measures to safeguard national food security.