Grain output stable above one trillion jin, unwavering: policy interpretation is here

Interviewee:Ye Zhenqin, Director of the Planting Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture

Reporter: China's grain production has already achieved bumper harvests for 6 consecutive years. This year's Central Document No. 1 requires effectively preventing the tendency to neglect and relax work on “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, and proposes “striving to ensure that grain production does not slide, farmers' income does not stagnate, and the sound momentum of rural development is not reversed”. So what measures will we take this year to ensure that grain production does not slide?
Ye Zhenqin: The Central Document No. 1 has set clear requirements for grain output, which are both pressure and responsibility for us. As the competent department for grain production, we must stabilize the area, raise per-unit yield, increase total annual grain output, and do everything possible to keep grain output stable above 1 trillion jin.
The Central Document No. 1 clearly proposes to “increase the state's investment in agriculture and rural areas” and to “persist in implementing direct subsidies to grain-growing farmers”. On February 4, to support spring plowing production, the central finance authorities had already pre-allocated 86.7 billion yuan in direct subsidy funds for grain-growing farmers, of which direct grain subsidies reached 15.1 billion yuan. In addition, Document No. 1 mentions the need to “expand the scope of potato subsidies, launch subsidies for improved highland barley seed, and implement pilot subsidies for improved peanut seed”. These 3 subsidized varieties are all of important significance. Potatoes are very suitable for development in China's arid northwestern regions; improved highland barley seed subsidies reflect the state's care for ethnic minority areas; peanuts are a high-yield, high-oil crop and are of great significance for stabilizing and raising China's self-sufficiency rate for edible vegetable oil. At present, the Ministry of Agriculture is conducting research together with relevant departments, and the specific subsidy policies are expected to be introduced very soon.
In annual grain production, we will continue to promote high-yield creation activities for grain, cotton and oil on a large scale. High-yield creation has been implemented for two years, and practice has proven that this is an effective way to integrate various practical technologies and demonstrate and drive balanced large-area yield increases. Last year's high-yield creation demonstration plots produced a number of 10,000-mu high-yield models, among which the 10,000-mu demonstration plot in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, reached a per-mu yield of 687.2 kg, setting China's highest record for 10,000-mu wheat per-unit yield. High-yield creation drove large-area yield increases. The average per-mu yield of 2,050 grain high-yield creation demonstration plots was 653.6 kg, an increase of 70.1 kg year-on-year.
Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to vigorously promote high-yield creation activities this year. In terms of scale, it will expand from last year's 2,600 10,000-mu demonstration plots to 7,500 demonstration plots this year, basically covering all agricultural counties nationwide; in terms of scope, it will expand from 3 categories and 8 crops of grain, oil and cotton to 4 categories and 10 crops of grain, oil, cotton and sugar, support some advantageous production areas in expanding demonstration plot areas, and promote implementation of high-yield creation across entire townships and counties.
Reporter: The Central Document No. 1 proposes for the first time to “promote standardized production of vegetable basket products”. How should this “standardized production” be understood? What measures do we currently have?
Ye Zhenqin: China is a major producer of horticultural products, and its area and output of vegetables, fruits, tea and flowers all rank first in the world. However, development is uneven across regions. In some areas and for some varieties, prominent problems include low per-unit yield, poor quality, weak brands, weak competitiveness, and asymmetric production and sales information. “Difficult sales” occur from time to time, and the industry fluctuates frequently. The “standardized production” proposed in the Central Document No. 1 is very timely. To solve the current problems of horticultural products, the core is to transform the production mode and improve the quality of the industry; the key is to promote standardized production and improve product quality.
Since last year, the Ministry of Agriculture has launched the creation of horticultural crop standard orchards, which means integrating technologies, intensifying projects and concentrating strength to build a group of production bases in advantageous production areas featuring large-scale planting, standardized production, commercialized handling, branded sales and industrialized operation, and to demonstrate and drive overall quality improvement and efficiency improvement of horticultural products. This is a major transformation in China's approach to horticultural product production and a major measure to promote the development of the horticultural industry.
This year the Ministry of Agriculture has preliminarily arranged to create 1,600 standard orchards, selecting concentrated and contiguous plots. Standard orchards for fruits, tea and open-field vegetables must be above 1,000 mu, and standard orchards for protected vegetables must be above 200 mu.
Reporter: “Consolidating the foundation for agricultural and rural development” has been set as the theme of this year's Central Document No. 1. What new measures do we have for consolidating the foundation of grain production?
Ye Zhenqin: Although China's grain production has had 6 consecutive years of bumper harvests, the foundation of grain production is still very weak. Six consecutive years of grain increases represent a concentrated release of existing production capacity. To continue maintaining the sound momentum of stable development, production capacity must be newly improved.
The Central Document No. 1 writes “consolidating the foundation” into its title, which shows how much attention is paid to this issue, and this is precisely one of our current key tasks. This year we will fully launch implementation of the “National Plan for Adding 100 Billion Jin of Grain Production Capacity”, with the focus on carrying out large-scale construction of high-standard farmland. A group of high-yield and stable-yield grain fields will be built in 800 major grain-producing counties (farms). This is the farmland construction project with the largest investment scale, longest construction period and broadest coverage in many years. This year the state will also increase support for the soil organic matter improvement subsidy project, which is also a major project rarely seen in past years that is specially used for cultivated land quality construction.
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According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2009 China's total grain output was 1,061.6 billion jin, an increase of 4.2 billion jin over the previous year, or 0.4%. Total grain output remained stable above 1 trillion jin for 3 consecutive years, achieving 6 consecutive years of increase. Among this, national summer grain output was 246.7 billion jin, an increase of 5.2 billion jin over the previous year, or 2.2%. National early rice output was 66.5 billion jin, an increase of 3.3 billion jin over the previous year, or 5.3%. National autumn grain output was 748.4 billion jin, a decrease of 4.3 billion jin over the previous year, or 0.6%.
Oilseed production continued restorative development. Rapeseed output is expected to increase by about 5%, setting a record high, and the self-sufficiency rate of edible vegetable oil remained stable.
The horticultural industry developed steadily, the export situation improved noticeably, and both production and sales in the market were brisk. According to preliminary statistics, this year the national fruit area is about 160 million mu, basically flat with the previous year, with output of 120 million tons, up 9% year-on-year.