Why the grain output increased by 2.4% over the previous year?

Bread is the staff of life. Without stable food production capacity, there can be no real food security.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's grain output has enjoyed "12 consecutive increases". In 2015, the country's total grain output reached 1.24287 trillion jin, an increase of 2.4 percent over the previous year. Grain output has once again exceeded 1.1 trillion jin, indicating that China's comprehensive grain production capacity has been stable at the level of 1.1 trillion jin for many years in a row, laying a solid foundation for China's food security. In the case of increasing downward pressure on the economy, grain production has reaped another bumper harvest, further stabilizing the economic fundamentals for the better.

Good policies and people's efforts are the prerequisite for the steady growth of grain output.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to grain production. This year, the central government continued to strengthen its support to farmers and allocated various subsidy funds such as grain direct subsidies and improved seed subsidies in 2015 in a timely manner, thus stabilizing farmers' expectations of grain income.

The policy is good and people work hard. The party's policy of attaching importance to agriculture and grasping grain has effectively protected the enthusiasm of farmers in growing grain, and the sown area of grain has continued to grow steadily this year. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the sown area of grain in the country is 1.700107 billion mu, an increase of 9.269 million mu or 0.5% over the previous year. Hou Rui, a senior statistician in the Rural Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that the expansion of grain sown area has created basic conditions for a bumper grain harvest.

The adjustment of agricultural planting structure has created a reformative supply for increasing grain production. Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that due to the labor-consuming and time-consuming and low efficiency of planting cotton and rapeseed, some areas have reduced the planting area of cotton and summer harvest rapeseed, and expanded the planting area of winter wheat, corn and other grain. Data show that the cotton sown area in some parts of Jianghuai has decreased by nearly 30%. Due to the expansion of the sown area, the country has increased grain production by about 6.7 billion jin, contributing 23.1% to the increase in grain production.

The sustainable development of modern agriculture has created an equipment supply for increasing grain production. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the average per mu yield of grain crops reached 365.5 kg per mu this year, an increase of 6.5kg per mu or 1.8% over the previous year. Since the 12th five-year Plan, more than 52 percent of farmland has been effectively irrigated, indicating that more than half of the country's farmland can be harvested by drought and waterlogging. The comprehensive mechanization level of the cultivation and income of major crops in the country has exceeded 61 percent, indicating that China's agricultural production mode has shifted from human and animal power to a new stage of machinery operation.

With the help of heaven and the support of science and technology, we have achieved a rare "twelve consecutive increases" in the history of grain production.

Hou Rui said that an important condition for grain production to hit a new high this year is the help of the weather.

Since the beginning of this year, the agrometeorological conditions are good and the disasters are relatively mild. Especially since last winter and this spring, the accumulated temperature, rainfall and cumulative sunshine hours of more than 10 ℃ in major grain producing provinces are generally higher than those in the previous year. On the whole, the agrometeorological disasters in the country are relatively mild.

With the help of heaven and the support of science and technology, the grain output has increased by "12 consecutive". The planting area of high-yield crops has increased this year. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the sown area of corn across the country increased by 14.898 million mu over the previous year, an increase of 2.7 percent, driving the national grain yield per unit area to increase by 1.3 percentage points. Agricultural science and technology is strongly supported. This year, various localities have continued to strengthen investment in agricultural science and technology, continuously increase the popularization and application of improved variety breeding and soil testing formula, and provide technical services of soil testing and formula fertilization to 190 million farmers free of charge.

The contribution of agricultural science and technology to grain production continues to make efforts. Data show that due to the increase in per unit yield, the grain production has increased by about 22.1 billion jin this year, contributing 76.9% to the increase in grain production. Li Guoxiang said: since the 12th five-year Plan, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress has reached 56%, indicating that China's agricultural development has changed from relying mainly on increasing the input of resource elements in the past to a new period that mainly depends on scientific and technological progress. At present, the coverage rate of improved varieties of crops has stabilized at more than 96%, indicating that all the varieties used in agricultural production in China have been upgraded. (our reporter Gao Yuncai and Zhu Jianhong)

Applaud the stable comprehensive grain production capacity

China's grain output reached 1.24 trillion jin, a record "12 consecutive increases". This is a remarkable historical achievement and deserves to be applauded.

At present, the self-sufficiency rate of rice, wheat and corn in China is more than 98%, and the per capita share of grain has reached 450 kg, which is higher than the world average. We use less than 9% of the world's arable land to produce 25% of the world's food, feed nearly 20% of the world's population, and achieve the transformation from a food aid recipient to a food aid donor, making a significant contribution to world food security.

However, for a period of time, China's grain production, inventory and import have increased, and the domestic grain price is much higher than the international grain price. Under the pattern of "twelve consecutive increases" of grain output, grain production should adapt to the new normal, and grain reform should be transformed from the demand side to the supply side.

To overcome the contradictions in grain production, the key point is to promote grain production to shift from quantitative growth to equal emphasis on quantity, quality, and efficiency, and from relying on resources and material input to relying on scientific and technological progress and improving the quality of workers.

It is very urgent to adjust the structure of grain production. When the grain supply side is relatively loose, when adjusting the planting structure, it is necessary to transition to a balanced state of grain supply and demand, which should not be excessively reduced, but also grasp the intensity and rhythm. More attention should be paid to increasing grain production capacity and tapping the new potential of grain production. No matter how it is changed or adjusted, the grain production capacity and arable land must not be reduced, and this is the bottom line that must be adhered to.

We should do everything possible to protect the interests and enthusiasm of grain farmers. According to the top-level design of food price reform, it is necessary to separate grain market prices from subsidies to farmers in the future. After separating prices from subsidies, the food market can be activated.