The key to securing grain and stabilizing grain lies in doing a good job with the grain-producing counties, the granaries.
At the Beidahuang Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Machinery Center of the Jiansanjiang Farm under Heilongjiang State Farms, staff demonstrated on site operations such as real-time scheduling of agricultural machinery and GPS positioning, drawing unstinting praise from the Party secretaries and county heads from several hundred major grain-producing counties across the country, and many even took out their phones to take photos.
At the Beidahuang Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Machinery Center of the Jiansanjiang Farm under Heilongjiang State Farms, staff demonstrated on site operations such as real-time scheduling of agricultural machinery and GPS positioning, drawing unstinting praise from the Party secretaries and county heads from several hundred major grain-producing counties across the country, and many even took out their phones to take photos.
This was one scene from the national training class for major grain-producing counties. Recently, the principal officials of 339 counties (cities) whose grain output exceeds 1 billion jin nationwide gathered in Heilongjiang to receive training by listening to lectures and on-site observation. Training the officials of major grain counties on such a large scale is rare in our country. Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said: “In my memory, this is the third time that Party secretaries and county heads from across the country have gathered for such a large-scale exchange.”
“The state attaches such importance to major grain-producing counties, which makes everyone feel deeply inspired and greatly encouraged.” said Chen Zhong, county head of Hua County, Henan Province. In the past, counties strong in industry were proud, while counties producing more grain lacked confidence; this time, inviting people from major grain-producing counties to training really boosts morale.
“Although Zizhong is located in hilly areas, with many people and little land, and does not have the innate geographical conditions like Northeast China, we cannot use this as an excuse to weaken grain production. We insist on putting grain production in the most important position.” said Zhang Wei, county head of Zizhong County, Sichuan Province.
At present, China's grain production development faces many challenges, including rigid growth in demand, tightening hard resource constraints, rising production costs, declining comparative benefits, and a structural shortage of rural labor. During the exchange, the Party secretaries and county heads said that to maintain the good momentum of stable grain development, major grain counties must take on more responsibility. They put forward insightful views centering on safeguarding national food security.
Implement major projects with strong intensity and long-term effects to improve the ability of major grain-producing counties to stabilize and increase grain output. At present, the problem of weak agricultural infrastructure in major grain-producing counties has still not been notably improved, and the ability to withstand disasters remains relatively weak. Many officials of major grain-producing counties suggested that the state should increase investment in improving comprehensive grain production capacity, and that in the current policy measures for stabilizing growth, support for building the basic capacity for stable production and increased output in major grain-producing counties with grain output of more than 500 million jin should be made a priority. If the grain production capacity of major counties is steadily improved, the national food security guarantee can be raised to a new level.
Take effective measures to advance the implementation of financial policies supporting agriculture and effectively solve the problems of difficult agricultural loans and weak insurance. Lin Chunyuan, county head of Linyi County, Shandong Province, said that currently agricultural insurance compensates only 300 yuan per mu for wheat and corn, which is too low a compensation standard and not even enough to cover costs. It is suggested to accelerate the implementation of relevant financial and insurance policies. On the one hand, hard constraints should be strengthened on commercial financial and insurance institutions, and business assessment requirements supporting agricultural modernization should be formulated; on the other hand, the state should increase fiscal subsidies for financial and insurance institutions carrying out business related to “agriculture, rural areas and farmers,” helping them reduce business costs and risks and increase their enthusiasm. At the same time, the scope of agricultural insurance should be expanded, the proportion of premium subsidies for large grain growers should be increased, and agriculture's ability to cope with natural risks should be enhanced.
While increasing transfer payments, reduce or exempt major grain-producing counties from county-level matching funds for agricultural project construction. Everyone reported that support for major grain-producing counties, especially some major grain-producing counties and financially difficult counties in the central and western regions, should be increased, and the situation in which growing grain means losing out and growing more grain means losing out more should be fundamentally changed. It is hoped that investment in major grain-producing counties will be further strengthened, and fiscal rewards and subsidies for major grain-producing counties will continue to be increased. At the same time, the requirement put forward in this year's Central Document No. 1 to “reduce or cancel matching funds from major grain-producing counties for construction project funds directly used for grain production” should be implemented. Dong Shuchun, district head of Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, reported that major grain counties have limited financial resources, while the district's matching funds for agricultural projects over the past 5 years totaled 140 million yuan, creating great pressure for matching funds.
Introduce policies to accelerate the cultivation of new agricultural operating entities. New agricultural operating entities are an important force for stabilizing production and increasing grain output, and they have urgent needs in using improved seeds, purchasing machinery, and participating in insurance. It is suggested to increase support for new agricultural operating entities by means such as government procurement, reward subsidies, and exempting qualified agricultural operating service businesses from business tax, and to encourage them to grow more grain.
This was one scene from the national training class for major grain-producing counties. Recently, the principal officials of 339 counties (cities) whose grain output exceeds 1 billion jin nationwide gathered in Heilongjiang to receive training by listening to lectures and on-site observation. Training the officials of major grain counties on such a large scale is rare in our country. Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said: “In my memory, this is the third time that Party secretaries and county heads from across the country have gathered for such a large-scale exchange.”
“The state attaches such importance to major grain-producing counties, which makes everyone feel deeply inspired and greatly encouraged.” said Chen Zhong, county head of Hua County, Henan Province. In the past, counties strong in industry were proud, while counties producing more grain lacked confidence; this time, inviting people from major grain-producing counties to training really boosts morale.
“Although Zizhong is located in hilly areas, with many people and little land, and does not have the innate geographical conditions like Northeast China, we cannot use this as an excuse to weaken grain production. We insist on putting grain production in the most important position.” said Zhang Wei, county head of Zizhong County, Sichuan Province.
At present, China's grain production development faces many challenges, including rigid growth in demand, tightening hard resource constraints, rising production costs, declining comparative benefits, and a structural shortage of rural labor. During the exchange, the Party secretaries and county heads said that to maintain the good momentum of stable grain development, major grain counties must take on more responsibility. They put forward insightful views centering on safeguarding national food security.
Implement major projects with strong intensity and long-term effects to improve the ability of major grain-producing counties to stabilize and increase grain output. At present, the problem of weak agricultural infrastructure in major grain-producing counties has still not been notably improved, and the ability to withstand disasters remains relatively weak. Many officials of major grain-producing counties suggested that the state should increase investment in improving comprehensive grain production capacity, and that in the current policy measures for stabilizing growth, support for building the basic capacity for stable production and increased output in major grain-producing counties with grain output of more than 500 million jin should be made a priority. If the grain production capacity of major counties is steadily improved, the national food security guarantee can be raised to a new level.
Take effective measures to advance the implementation of financial policies supporting agriculture and effectively solve the problems of difficult agricultural loans and weak insurance. Lin Chunyuan, county head of Linyi County, Shandong Province, said that currently agricultural insurance compensates only 300 yuan per mu for wheat and corn, which is too low a compensation standard and not even enough to cover costs. It is suggested to accelerate the implementation of relevant financial and insurance policies. On the one hand, hard constraints should be strengthened on commercial financial and insurance institutions, and business assessment requirements supporting agricultural modernization should be formulated; on the other hand, the state should increase fiscal subsidies for financial and insurance institutions carrying out business related to “agriculture, rural areas and farmers,” helping them reduce business costs and risks and increase their enthusiasm. At the same time, the scope of agricultural insurance should be expanded, the proportion of premium subsidies for large grain growers should be increased, and agriculture's ability to cope with natural risks should be enhanced.
While increasing transfer payments, reduce or exempt major grain-producing counties from county-level matching funds for agricultural project construction. Everyone reported that support for major grain-producing counties, especially some major grain-producing counties and financially difficult counties in the central and western regions, should be increased, and the situation in which growing grain means losing out and growing more grain means losing out more should be fundamentally changed. It is hoped that investment in major grain-producing counties will be further strengthened, and fiscal rewards and subsidies for major grain-producing counties will continue to be increased. At the same time, the requirement put forward in this year's Central Document No. 1 to “reduce or cancel matching funds from major grain-producing counties for construction project funds directly used for grain production” should be implemented. Dong Shuchun, district head of Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, reported that major grain counties have limited financial resources, while the district's matching funds for agricultural projects over the past 5 years totaled 140 million yuan, creating great pressure for matching funds.
Introduce policies to accelerate the cultivation of new agricultural operating entities. New agricultural operating entities are an important force for stabilizing production and increasing grain output, and they have urgent needs in using improved seeds, purchasing machinery, and participating in insurance. It is suggested to increase support for new agricultural operating entities by means such as government procurement, reward subsidies, and exempting qualified agricultural operating service businesses from business tax, and to encourage them to grow more grain.