Ministry of Agriculture: Making the potato a staple food is not because we are short of grain
A few days ago, the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that it plans to use technological innovation to lead the development of potato (commonly known as “potato”) as a staple food. Once the news came out, it attracted widespread attention. On January 15, relevant officials and experts from the Ministry of Agriculture were interviewed by reporters, publicly responding for the first time to society's various concerns about making the potato a staple food.
Why add the potato as a staple food?
The larger background of making the potato a staple food is the implementation of the national food security strategy under the new situation
China already has three major staple foods, so why add the potato?
In response, Pan Wenbo, deputy director of the Planting Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, explained that in China the potato has actually always been counted as grain, and is itself a major grain variety after corn, rice, and wheat.
According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed promoting the potato as a staple food mainly based on three considerations: First, it can meet everyone's demand to eat enough, eat well, and eat healthily. The potato is rich and comprehensive in nutrition, while also low in fat and high in protein quality, which helps suppress body weight, helps clean the intestines, and helps prevent digestive system diseases. Second, it can meet the needs of structural optimization and resource development. China is severely short of water and land resources, and the pressure on the ecological environment is growing. In the northwest, where water resources are scarce, in the north, where groundwater is severely overexploited, and in the south, where winter fallow field resources are abundant, it is necessary to transform the development mode and optimize the planting structure. Potato production has good results in saving water, saving land, saving fertilizer, and saving pesticides, and can serve as the main alternative crop in agricultural structural adjustment. Third, it can meet the new changes in the fast pace of life of urban and rural residents. The potato is easy to process, good in taste, and complete in nutrition, and is popular whether in fast food restaurants or in ordinary people's homes. Promoting the potato as a staple food and processing potatoes into convenience foods and semi-finished products can meet the needs of a fast-paced life: saving time, tasty, and nutritious.
According to the introduction, the larger background of promoting the potato as a “staple food” is the implementation of the national food security strategy under the new situation, namely ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of rations. It also went through a process of scientific decision-making: the main leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture repeatedly held discussions at scientific research institutions, conducted surveys at potato breeding and processing units and in major production areas, and also held discussions at multiple levels, from forming ideas through surveys to grassroots feedback and finally forming a decision.
What is a staple food? Dai Xiaofeng, director of the Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said vividly, “What you hold in your hand at an ordinary meal is called a staple food, and what is placed on the plate in the middle is all called a side food or dish.” A crop that becomes a staple food must be able to be produced on a relatively large scale in a relatively large area; be able to be stored in large quantities for a long time; be accepted by most people and occupy a major proportion of three meals a day; and be able to provide the energy and nutrition needed by most people. “At present, what can serve as staple foods is mainly what is usually called the five grains and miscellaneous grains, including tubers.” Dai Xiaofeng said.
Wang Xiaohu, director of the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, believes that compared with wheat, corn, and rice, the potato has many advantages and itself has the conditions to be a staple food. Dai Xiaofeng said that although fresh potatoes have high water content and are not resistant to storage or convenient to transport, processing them into whole flour and turning them into dry matter for storage makes them much more storage-resistant than flour and rice.
Although the potato has been cultivated in China for more than 400 years, it has mostly been eaten fresh as a vegetable. Does this mean that making the potato a staple food lacks a “mass base”?
Pan Wenbo believes that the reason the potato has so far failed to naturally become a true staple food in China is due to traditional dietary consumption habits and also because the public does not know enough about the nutritional value of the potato. Affected by these two factors, breeding of special potato varieties suitable for processing has been insufficient, and the corresponding research and development of formulas, processes, and equipment for processing into staple foods has been insufficient, so industrial development has lagged.
Dai Xiaofeng said that the potato does not contain gluten protein, so when making staple food products such as steamed buns and noodles, there are problems such as difficulty in forming, difficulty in proofing, high hardness, and noodles that break easily and do not tolerate boiling. At present, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has successfully developed products such as potato steamed buns with a potato whole flour proportion of 40% and potato noodles with a potato whole flour proportion of 35%, and has initially achieved factory production; at the same time, it has also developed series products such as self-raising flour for potato steamed buns and compound flour for potato noodles. In the future, ordinary people can also make potato steamed buns and noodles at home.
Is the real reason that there is not enough food to eat?
The relationship between making the potato a staple food and food security is not timely help but adding brilliance
Does making the potato a staple food show that there is not enough food to eat, and that without finding a substitute we will go hungry?
“This view is inaccurate. I can say responsibly that China's grain output has increased for many consecutive years, the warehouses are full and the granaries are overflowing, the food supply is sufficient, and national food security is guaranteed.” Pan Wenbo said.
China's cultivated land resources are inherently insufficient. To solve the problem of feeding the Chinese people, it is necessary to strictly guard the red line of cultivated land, and on this point the central government's attitude is very firm. “On the one hand, we guard the red line of cultivated land quantity. According to the central government's arrangements, in coordination with the Ministry of Land and Resources, we strictly implement the cultivated land protection system, accelerate the designation of permanent basic farmland, and give priority to designating high-quality cultivated land around cities and towns and along transportation routes that is easily occupied as permanent basic farmland. On the other hand, we guard the red line of cultivated land quality. Starting this year, the Ministry of Agriculture will further strengthen the construction of the intrinsic quality of cultivated land, focusing on soil improvement, fertility building, nutrient balance, and cultivated land restoration, and strive to improve cultivated land quality.” Pan Wenbo said that ensuring absolute security of rations is done at all costs.
Making the potato a staple food is an important supplement to absolute ration security. Pan Wenbo said: “Making the potato a staple food, for ensuring national food security, is not timely help but adding brilliance; it is to let ordinary people eat better, more nutritiously, and more healthily.”
Pan Wenbo stated that in the future development of making the potato a staple food, it will not only be about developing potatoes in the northwest region, but more importantly about focusing on structural layout and optimization, especially the development and utilization of winter fallow fields in the south. First, the northwest region should promote dryland water-saving technology and develop potatoes according to local conditions. Second, the southern region should make full use of winter fallow fields and expand winter planting of potatoes and other crops. Third, in water-scarce areas such as the north, some water-saving crops including potatoes should be planted as appropriate.
Where is the focus of staple food cultivation?
Develop and utilize 100 million mu of winter fallow fields in the south, and raise potato yields per unit area
In recent years, China's potato planting area has remained stable at more than 80 million mu, reaching 84.219 million mu in 2013, mainly distributed in the southwest, northeast, northwest, and other regions.
The target for potato staple food cultivation is 150 million mu. Now it is 80 million mu. Where will the expanded planting mainly be expanded to?
Pan Wenbo said that one basic principle for expanding potato planting is not to compete for land with the three major grains of rice, wheat, and corn. After the implementation of making the potato a staple food, the focus of expanding area is the development and utilization of winter fallow fields in the south. At present, the area of winter fallow fields in the south is 100 million mu. What farmers plant depends mainly on price and is regulated by the market. Another direction is to increase yield per unit area. At present, China's average fresh potato yield per mu is more than 1150 kilograms, 20% lower than the world average and less than half that of developed countries. It should be said that the potential for tapping yield per unit area is huge and is also realistically feasible.
Regarding doubts that growing potatoes converts to less grain, has low yield per unit area, and occupies more land, Dai Xiaofeng said: “It should be explained that potatoes in China are mostly planted on cultivated land with poor ecological conditions and infertile soil. As far as I know, in some places in Tengzhou, Shandong, potato yield per mu exceeds 5000 kilograms, and after conversion to grain it is higher than wheat yield per mu. Next, through scientific and technological progress, there is great room to raise potato yield per unit area.”
In addition, regarding the issue of genetically modified organisms that many people care about, Wang Xiaohu said that China has not approved any commercial production of genetically modified staple foods, has not approved commercial planting of any genetically modified potato varieties, has not issued safety permits to any genetically modified potatoes, and has not approved the import of genetically modified potatoes. At present, there are more than 100 potato varieties used in production in China, mainly conventional varieties bred from the 1970s to the 1990s, and none of them is a genetically modified variety.