New mechanism for saving grain and reducing losses to be established, China strives to reduce grain loss and waste
On the occasion of the upcoming 34th World Food Day and the 24th National Grain Love and Grain Saving Publicity Week, the State Administration of Grain, at a press briefing held jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and other departments, stated that China will vigorously promote the establishment of a new mechanism for saving grain and reducing losses featuring government leadership, demand-driven orientation, participation of all citizens, and coordinated social advancement, and will strive to create a grain circulation method and consumption model that is economical and intensive, green and low-carbon, scientific and healthy.
To promote the establishment of the new mechanism for saving grain and reducing losses, the State Administration of Grain has implemented the “Grain Security Project”, stepped up research and development of key technologies for saving grain and reducing losses, and promoted the “four-scattered” logistics method for raw grain: “bulk loading, bulk transport, bulk storage, and bulk unloading”. At the same time, by the end of 2014, 8.17 million sets of new-type farm household grain storage equipment will have been allocated cumulatively to 26 provinces across the country, which can reduce farm household grain storage losses by 900,000 tons per year and bring about an average reduction of about 1.7% in the storage loss rate of grain storage enterprises.
October 16 is the 34th World Food Day, and the week in which it falls is the 24th National Grain Love and Grain Saving Publicity Week. The State Administration of Grain, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Communist Youth League Central Committee, the All-China Women's Federation and other relevant departments have set this year's Grain Saving Publicity Week theme as “Saving a Grain of Food, We Are in Action”, and will organize a series of activities nationwide such as grain love and grain saving “Families in Action”, “Youth in Action”, and “Enterprises in Action”.
It is understood that post-harvest grain loss and waste in China is severe. According to estimates, in the farm household grain storage stage alone, due to crude facilities, spillage and leakage during grain loading, unloading and transport, and excessive or extensive processing, the annual grain loss exceeds 35 million tons, equivalent to one year's rations for 200 million people.
Sinograin has purchased a cumulative 29.54 million tons of summer grain this year
Reporter Liu Hui learned from Sinograin Corporation: the execution period of this year's minimum purchase price policy for summer grain ended on September 30, and Sinograin has purchased a cumulative 29.54 million tons of summer grain.
According to the latest statistics, Sinograin Corporation completed a cumulative 25.35 million tons of wheat market-support purchases this year, three times the purchase volume of the same period last year. The increase in purchase volume was mainly due to this year's bumper wheat harvest, with high output and good quality; farmers were relatively satisfied with the minimum purchase price and sold grain enthusiastically. At the same time, cumulative market-support purchases of early indica rice reached 4.19 million tons, a decrease compared with the same period last year. Market-support purchases of wheat and early indica rice totaled 29.54 million tons.
According to the introduction, in response to this year's summer grain production and market situation as well as tight warehouse capacity for early rice purchases in some areas, Sinograin Corporation, in accordance with arrangements by relevant national departments, intensified the sale and relocation of existing policy grain stocks. With the support of local governments, it took multiple measures to repair and build warehouses, coordinated warehouse capacity scheduling, and effectively resolved the contradiction in early rice purchase warehouse capacity in parts of Jiangxi and Hunan. No place experienced “difficulty in selling grain”.