To solve the problem of post-harvest grain losses, it is necessary to accelerate the advancement of agricultural industrialization

On the occasion of the arrival of the 24th National Grain Love and Grain Saving Publicity Week, the State Administration of Grain stated that post-harvest grain losses and waste in China are very serious. According to estimates by relevant research institutions and experts, due to the simple grain storage facilities of rural households, spillage and loss during grain loading, unloading and transportation, and excessive or extensive processing, the grain losses caused in China each year amount to at least more than 70 billion jin, equivalent to one year's rations for 200 million people. Among these, due to the simple grain storage containers of rural households, low levels of preservation technology, and the effects of rodent damage, insect damage and mildew and other factors, the grain loss rate is about 8%. This calculates to an annual loss of about 40 billion jin in the household grain storage stage, and the potential for saving grain and cherishing grain is enormous. (People's Daily, October 10)

Relevant data show that consumers in China waste at least 8 million tons of food protein and 3 million tons of fat each year through dining alone. The total amount of food wasted each year is equivalent to about 50 billion kg of grain, close to one tenth of the national total grain output. Even by conservative estimates, at least the equivalent of one year's rations for about 200 million people is thrown away each year. If the more than 70 billion jin lost in grain production, processing and storage are added, the grain lost and wasted nationwide each year is equivalent to one year's rations for more than 400 million people, enough to feed several medium-population countries in the world. Regardless of whether these statistics are sensational, it is an indisputable fact that the losses in grain production, processing and storage are enormous and that food waste in the catering industry is serious.

If agriculture is the foundation of national economic development and social stability, then grain production is the foundation of that foundation. In China's several thousand years of historical development, “without agriculture there is no stability” can be called an ancient instruction, and the importance of food security is self-evident. China's population accounts for close to 20% of the world's total population. As grain experts have said, if China can solve the food security problem for its own population, it has already made a huge contribution to the world. In fact, in recent years we have not only solved the problem of feeding our own population, with rapid economic development and growth, but also led the world in food security. Food security has benefited not only from 10 consecutive years of bumper summer grain harvests, but mainly because the state's preferential agricultural policies have mobilized the enthusiasm of the great majority of farmers for growing grain. In addition, the continuous increase in investment in science and technology and mechanized agriculture has meant that while grain production is abundant, output has also increased year by year.

But it is obvious that the serious post-harvest losses of grain, plus the enormous waste in the catering industry, have greatly eroded grain growth. To solve the problem of post-harvest grain losses, in addition to emphasizing people's awareness of saving and cherishing grain, it is also necessary to rely on investment in science and technology and improvements in facilities and technology at every stage. However, the currently widespread model of household contracted production by individual families can no longer adapt to the development of modern agricultural science and technology. On the basis of safeguarding farmers' interests, and in accordance with the requirements of the central authorities, farmers should be allowed to use contracted management rights as shares to develop industrialized agricultural operations, and contracted management rights should be encouraged to circulate in the open market to specialized large households, family farms, farmers' cooperatives and agricultural enterprises, so as to develop scale operations in multiple forms. We all know that ensuring both high yield and a good harvest in grain production depends on harvesting technology and harvesting methods. Large-scale planting models create conditions for the input of modern agricultural scientific and technological equipment and can more effectively ensure that “every grain returns to the granary.”

In fact, in the stages of grain storage and processing, restricted by economic, technological and environmental conditions, rural households have simple grain storage containers and low levels of preservation technology, and are greatly affected by factors such as rodent damage, insect damage and mildew. By contrast, after land circulation, large-scale production and operation are implemented. In grain storage, whether in facilities and equipment or in the application of various new technologies, together with new modern management concepts, these drawbacks formed by individual household operations basically no longer exist. This is even more true in processing. Constrained by funds, technology and many other conditions, individual households often can only carry out rough processing of grain, and the simple rough processing equipment makes grain losses unavoidable. Large-scale grain enterprises are different. In order to pursue maximum benefits, they are forced, on the basis of reducing and eliminating losses, to make full efforts in fine grain processing.

In fact, implementing large-scale grain planting and production is the general trend of modern agricultural development, is also the prerequisite for ensuring the input and application of modern agricultural science and technology, and is moreover the guarantee of conditions for reducing and avoiding loss and waste in grain storage, processing and all other stages. Therefore, only by accelerating land circulation and implementing large-scale planting and production can the problem of various post-harvest grain losses and waste be fundamentally solved. General Secretary Xi Jinping once said that China's bowls should be filled with Chinese grain. Yet in fact, the grain we produce ourselves has not entirely filled our own bowls, and much of what has been put into the bowls has even been thrown away. The “Clean Plate Campaign” has raised the awareness of saving among the catering industry and consumers, but post-harvest grain losses have long been ignored. The ancients said: who knows that every grain on the plate is the fruit of hard toil. To have it lost in vain after a bumper harvest is neither worthwhile nor acceptable. One must know that losing and wasting grain is being irresponsible to oneself, and is also a “crime” against the entire country and even all humanity. The concept of cherishing and saving grain must always be maintained and advocated.