Some 10 years ago, an American scholar named Lester Brown voiced
his doubts about China's continuing capability of feeding its own
vast population. Now the government and scholars here are being
reminded of that dire warning.
Premier Wen Jiabao said in his government work report last
Friday that the Chinese government will exert itself to protect
cropland acreage, halt the illegal use of farmland, and urge
farmers to produce more grain in an effort to stabilize the
country's grain production.
Some leading researchers and others attending the current second
sessions of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) and the
National Committee of the 10th Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) responded to Wen's remarks by
calling for a grain emergency mechanism, improving macro controls
on grain production and correcting and improving grain distribution
in domestic markets.
Yuan Longping, an agronomist famed for his success in breeding
hybrid paddy rice and a member of the CPPCC National Committee, set
China's annual grain output warning line at 485 million tons. Last
year, farmers produced only 430 million tons.
Li Siheng, a researcher with the State Cereals Administration,
warned that China's grain supply might fall short owing to years of
lower yields, reduced state grain reserves and less grain stored by
individual farmers. The country's grain output has been hovering
around 450 million tons for the past four years, he recalled.
Last year was a turning point for China's grain security, as per
capita grain output in the year fell below the 350-kilogram mark,
the lowest per capita yearly average in a decade.
There were shortfalls of grain in the 1980s, until the
government encouraged farmers to increase production by
implementing market-oriented reforms. In 1998, the country's grain
output hit a record high of over 500 million tons. The government
announced proudly that China, with cropland amounting to only 7
percent of the world's total, was capable of feeding the world's
largest population, or 22 percent of humankind.
But excess supply saturated the market and resulted in a drop in
grain prices, which dampened farmers' enthusiasm. Local governments
in some areas downsized farmland acreage to reduce grain output.
Meanwhile, extensive infrastructure construction, urban development
and mushrooming industrial parks all took huge bites out of grain
crop acreage.
Nevertheless, China is still far from a grain crisis, noted Han
Jun, an official of the Development Research Center under the State
Council, as a balance between supply and demand has been
maintained. Bumper grain harvests from 1995 to 1998 left a combined
reserve of some 500 million tons, equal to the average annual
output at present. This lays a solid foundation for the country's
grain security, he said.
Vice Minister of Agriculture Zhang Baowen said the government is
working very hard to increase the country's grain output to 460
million tons, with an increase of 60 kilograms per hectare targeted
for 2005. A range of incentives will be issued to encourage grain
growers.
Currently, government departments are working on amending laws
and regulations related to land use in a bid to protect cultivated
land strictly, said Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Office of
the Leading Group on Financial Affairs of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee.
Meanwhile, the NPC Standing Committee has begun revising the Law
on Land Management.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2004)