Just How Heavy Is the Weight of the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security?

Increasing local enthusiasm for grain production and fully implementing the provincial governor responsibility system for food security is an important manifestation of new thinking for further strengthening the capacity to guarantee food security in the new era. Mobilizing local enthusiasm for grain production and strengthening the territorial responsibility for food security is an important mechanism and means for enhancing the capacity to guarantee food security now and in the future

Where is the leverage point for food security? The recently issued "Several Opinions of the State Council on Establishing and Improving the Provincial Governor Responsibility System for Food Security" makes clear that provincial governors must assume the primary responsibility for guaranteeing food security in their regions. Compared with the previously familiar "rice bag" provincial governor responsibility system, the provincial governor responsibility system forms a more complete food security system from the source of grain production and the grain circulation process to supervision and assessment, and also gives greater prominence to the territorial primary responsibility for food security.

Why, on the premise that grain production has continued to increase and the domestic market has ample food and clothing, should food security be emphasized even more, and with more comprehensive requirements and more specific responsibilities than before? This is determined by the new characteristics, new changes and new requirements of the food security situation under the background of the new normal.

This newness is reflected in supply: on the one hand, China's grain production capacity has reached a new level, with grain output exceeding 1.2 trillion jin for two consecutive years; on the other hand, the situation of relying on the weather for food has not yet been fundamentally changed, and "weather-dependent fields" still account for nearly 50%. It is reflected in demand: on the one hand, due to factors such as population growth, rising living standards and urbanization, total grain consumption will grow rigidly; on the other hand, the structure of grain varieties is imbalanced, with some in oversupply and some in short supply. It is reflected in the market: on the one hand, domestic production costs and prices are rising year by year; on the other hand, international agricultural product prices are showing a downward trend. One rising and one falling squeeze from both ends, making it more difficult to support market prices through policy to ensure grain farmers' income increases. In addition, in terms of regulation methods, the space for stimulating grain production simply by increasing subsidies is also becoming more and more limited.

⟦NL> Faced with this situation, it is necessary, on the basis of consolidating and improving grain paths and methods that have proven effective in practice and conform to the laws of economic and social development, to reform and adjust habits and practices that are incompatible with ensuring food security in the new era. Increasing local enthusiasm for grain production and fully implementing the provincial governor responsibility system for food security is an important manifestation of new thinking for further strengthening the capacity to guarantee food security in the new era. The focus of this requirement is that the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities must assume the primary responsibility for guaranteeing food security in their regions, and must not rely excessively on the central government or on others for food security.

As early as 2001, in order to adapt to changes in the new pattern of grain production and circulation, China divided itself into 13 major grain-producing areas, 7 major grain-selling areas and 11 basic balance areas, so that advantageous grain-producing areas could steadily leverage their geographical and resource advantages and ensure the gradual improvement of grain production capacity. However, because areas that are major grain-selling areas no longer had rigid tasks and mandatory requirements for grain production, they lacked subjective enthusiasm for grain production, resulting in a state of gradual decline in grain production and gradual or even sharp reduction in cultivated land area. Data show that in recent years, most of the areas with relatively large amounts of occupied cultivated land have belonged to major grain-selling areas.

On the other hand, places that are major grain-selling areas are often economically prosperous areas, and they have relatively good financial, human and material foundations in everything from establishing high-standard basic farmland and enhancing scientific and technological support capacity for grain, to supporting farmers in growing grain and establishing a new type of agricultural management system, and even to building a modern grain circulation market and improving grain reserve capacity. But now this capacity has not been fully brought into play. Some places may fail to do what they could originally do, may fail to do well what they could originally do better, and may find it difficult to solve what could originally be solved through effort; meanwhile, some major grain-producing areas, limited by financial resources, still have very weak farmland water conservancy infrastructure, and their grain production capacity is already close to its limit.

Therefore, mobilizing local enthusiasm for grain production and strengthening the territorial responsibility for food security is an important mechanism and means for enhancing the capacity to guarantee food security now and in the future. For the whole country, food security is the top priority of the entire Party and the whole society; for each region, food security is the top priority of that region. But whether for the whole country or for a region, this top priority needs to be implemented through specific carriers, and cannot be built only on talk. Such carriers are every province, autonomous region and municipality, and every field and plot of farmland.

For a country with such a large population as ours, food security can never tolerate the slightest carelessness at any time. The more grain we have in hand, the more we must seize the time to consolidate the foundation of grain. The provincial governor responsibility system for food security has grasped this pulse and also demonstrated its weight under the new normal.