Currently, the only genetically modified crops approved in China are cotton and papaya.
At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on December 5, Bi Meijia, Chief Economist and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Zeng Yande, Director of the Planting Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, answered questions on hot topics of social concern such as grain production increases and arable land quality.
Absolute food security is guaranteed, and grain imports will not increase substantially
Bi Meijia said that grain once again had a bumper harvest this year, climbing onto the 1.2 trillion jin step for two consecutive years.
Grain production has increased year after year, so why are imports still continuously rising? Data from the General Administration of Customs show that in the first 10 months of this year, China imported a cumulative total of 15.65 million tons of grains and grain flour, an increase of 46.3% over the same period last year. Bi Meijia said that last year the central government proposed building a national food security strategy under the new situation, which is to adhere to the policy of “taking self-reliance as the mainstay, basing ourselves on domestic production, ensuring production capacity, importing appropriately, and relying on scientific and technological support.” The core meaning is to firmly hold the Chinese people's rice bowl, and this rice bowl should mainly be filled with Chinese grain. Global grain output is now about 2.4 billion tons, and China has fed one-fifth of the world's population with an output of 600 million tons. China is confident and capable of solving the food problem of 1.3 billion people.
Bi Meijia analyzed that in recent years China's grain imports have increased somewhat, but the total volume is not large, mainly because grain prices on the international market are lower than ours, and also to meet diverse domestic consumer demand. At present, imports of the three major grains, rice, wheat and corn, account for only 2.4% of our domestic output, which is still relatively low. In the future, it may still be necessary to appropriately import some varieties that are in short supply domestically, but grain imports will not increase substantially.
Firmly uphold the arable land red line, and hold the two bottom lines of grain sown area and grain crop area
In response to issues of social concern such as soil pollution and arable land protection, Zeng Yande said that arable land is the lifeblood of grain production, and the foundation of ensuring food security lies in arable land. The central government proposed that it is necessary to protect both the red line for the quantity of arable land and the red line for the quality of arable land. At present, the environmental problems brought by arable land pollution are relatively prominent, and he summarized them as the “three larges” and “three lows”:
The “three larges” are that the proportion of medium- and low-yield farmland is relatively large, accounting for 70% of total arable land area; the area of degraded arable land quality is relatively large, accounting for more than 40% of total arable land area; and the area of polluted arable land is relatively large, with the national arable land soil point exceedance rate reaching 19.4%, eutrophication of surface water in the south and nitrate pollution of groundwater in the north, and relatively large amounts of agricultural film residue in places such as the northwest.
The “three lows” refer to low organic matter content, with the national arable land soil organic matter content at 2.08%, 0.07 percentage points lower than in the early 1990s; low grade of supplementary arable land, with more than 5 million mu of arable land under the annual balance of occupation and supplementation, differing by 2—3 fertility grades; and low basic soil fertility, with the contribution rate of basic soil fertility at about 50%, 20—30 percentage points lower than developed countries.
Zeng Yande said that agricultural departments are making every effort to strengthen the protection and improvement of arable land quality. They strive to raise arable land fertility by 0.5 grades and increase soil organic matter content by 0.5 percentage points by 2020. By improving soil, building up soil fertility, promoting integrated water and fertilizer management, deep plowing and deep loosening, and controlling the application amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to improve arable land quality, problems such as arable land acidification, salinization and heavy metal pollution will be effectively controlled.
According to reports, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Land and Resources have jointly issued the Notice on Further Doing a Good Job in Delineating Permanent Basic Farmland, which clearly proposes giving priority to designating as permanent basic farmland the high-quality arable land in the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities and along transportation lines that is easily occupied. At the same time, it also proposes that, with each province as a unit, the area of basic farmland retained must not decrease. Zeng Yande said that while firmly upholding the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land, it is also necessary to hold two bottom lines: the grain sown area must not be less than 1.65 billion mu, and the grain crop area must not be less than 1.4 billion mu.
Currently, the only genetically modified crops approved for planting in China are cotton and papaya
When answering a reporter's question about genetically modified organisms, Bi Meijia once again made clear that, up to now, the only genetically modified crops approved for planting in China are cotton and papaya, and no commercial production of any genetically modified staple grain has been approved. He said that the Ministry of Agriculture's attitude toward the GMO issue is consistent and clear. First, research should be bold and independent innovation should be upheld; second, promotion should be prudent and safety must be ensured.
Bi Meijia said that genetic modification is a new technology and also a new industry with broad development prospects. At present, the momentum of global agricultural GMO technology research and development is very strong, and developed countries are making every effort to seize the technological high ground. As a major agricultural production country and a major consumer of agricultural products, China has a large population, little land and scarce water, and droughts, floods and pests and diseases occur frequently, so the pressure to ensure the long-term effective supply of grain and other major agricultural products is very great. In this new GMO technology, we should all the more have a place and seize the high ground.
Bi Meijia introduced that in the future the steps of non-food — indirect food — food will be followed to steadily advance genetically modified crops. First develop non-food economic crops, then feed crops and processing raw material crops, then general food crops, and finally staple grain crops.
Tap new potential in grain production, and carry the green concept through the entire process of increasing production
Grain production has increased year after year; will it continue to increase next year?
Bi Meijia said that with this year's bumper grain harvest, next year's task appears even more arduous. The Ministry of Agriculture has already planned ahead and is effectively carrying out the current autumn and winter planting production. Judging from the current situation, it is expected that this year's winter wheat area will increase slightly, with high sowing quality, good soil moisture, neat emergence of winter wheat, and the best growth in recent years.
According to reports, in recent years the Ministry of Agriculture has, through “storing grain in the land” and “storing grain in technology,” promoted agricultural mechanization, advanced institutional and mechanism innovation, and focused on major grain-producing counties to tap new potential in grain production capacity.
Bi Meijia also said that because the various resource factors of current grain production are already very tight, and facing challenges from resources, markets, climate, ecology and other aspects, the Ministry of Agriculture is formulating a comprehensive implementation plan for a sustainable national food security strategy.
First, establish the “three concepts”: the concept of increasing production, the concept of efficiency and the concept of green development. Second, advance comprehensive measures. Persist in combining improvements in facility conditions with integrated technology, combining stable production development with efficient resource utilization, and combining individual measures with comprehensive measures, so as to promote sustained and stable grain development. Third, highlight research on green production increase models, and carry the green concept through the entire process of research on production increase models.