High domestic grain prices allow Chinese farmers to rent land overseas

Not long ago, Chen Zhangliang, vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology and member of the Secretariat, accepted an exclusive interview with Phoenix New Media, talking about the opportunities, challenges, and strategies of China's agriculture going out. Having been president of China Agricultural University for six years and vice chairman of Guangxi in charge of agriculture for six years, Chen Zhangliang is not only familiar with modern agriculture in theory, but also has rich practical experience. Over the years, he has been paying constant attention to Chinese agriculture.

At the beginning of this year, Chen Zhangliang noted that China's total grain output has increased for 11 consecutive years, while the total amount of imported grain has increased year after year, reaching 100 million tons last year. The reason is not that China is short of food, but that the price of Chinese agricultural products is too high, which is generally 20% and 100% higher than that of foreign countries. He told Phoenix New Media that it is inevitable that the price of agricultural products in China is too high, because the cost of agricultural production continues to rise, and the operation of small farmers from one household to another is not suitable for large-scale mechanized production. With the increase in the income of farmers going out to work in recent years, the cost of farming has almost doubled, and the price of agricultural products in China can not come down at all.

Chen Zhangliang pointed out: under such circumstances, in accordance with the principle of market economy, and with the further increase of China's population, people's demand for grain and other agricultural products will further increase, and in the long run, it is inevitable to import agricultural products.

Under the inevitable trend of importing agricultural products, how to grasp the pricing power in the face of international competition, how to reduce the excessively high production cost of agricultural products in China, how to ensure the increase of Chinese farmers' income, how to firmly hold the rice bowls of Chinese people in their own hands, and how to ensure national food security? While thinking about these issues, Chen Zhangliang suggested that China should formulate an overall strategy for agriculture going out. Chinese agricultural enterprises, Chinese farmers, and Chinese agricultural reclamation are encouraged to rent agricultural land in countries with few people overseas, such as Brazil, Russia, Cambodia, Africa, and other countries. "use our technology, take advantage of some countries' relatively cheap land, good climate, fertile soil, to farm." In Chen Zhangliang's view, there is a great opportunity for China's agriculture to go abroad.

Why does China's grain output increase in 11 times? why do we import a lot of food every year?

Phoenix New Media: you have repeatedly called on Chinese agriculture to go out at the two sessions and other occasions. what is the background of this appeal? What are the realistic conditions and needs for China's agriculture to go out at present?

Chen Zhangliang: after joining the WTO, we have benefited a lot in many aspects, but the pressure on agriculture has been great. In recent years, China has imported more and more grain. Last year, China imported 100 million tons of grain. With 100 million tons of grain, if divided by the average yield per mu in China, it takes almost 700 million mu of land to produce so much grain, that is to say, we are using 700 million mu of foreign land to feed us at the same time.

On the one hand, China's grain output has achieved an "eleven consecutive increase" from 2004 to 2014, and China's grain production has attracted worldwide attention. On the one hand, a large number of imports, what is the reason? I have been following this matter over the years. The reason for importing more is not because we are short of food. In fact, we have quite a lot of grain in our warehouse, but because our grain prices are higher than those abroad. From rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, oil and sugar to pork, beef, milk and milk powder, the average price of these agricultural products is 20% to 100% higher at home than abroad.

Why is our grain more expensive than abroad? After careful study, it is found that there is no way, that is, it has to be expensive, because our agricultural production costs are rising. The scale of our agriculture is so small that it is produced by one family, each with only a few mu of land, and some even less than a mu, so we cannot carry out large-scale mechanized production, and we have to rely on manual labor. For rice of the same area, about a hundred of us transplant rice there, but we can't stand a transplanter; for the same harvest, a hundred of us can't stand a machine.

Phoenix New Media: in recent years, the degree of mechanization in rural areas has been greatly improved. In your opinion, it is far from enough for some small agricultural machinery to replace labor.

Chen Zhangliang: the state encourages the purchase of agricultural machinery. the problem is that the land is too small and there are ridges of fields. however, there are hundreds of thousands of mu or millions of mu of land abroad, and the tractors are operating all the time. Our level of agricultural mechanization simply cannot be compared with that of foreign countries.

We did not feel such an obvious gap before, because in the past, the income of farmers was very low, and we had a large number of people, and together we were able to outperform the machines of other countries. However, in the past five to ten years, as farmers go to work in cities, the income of farmers as a whole has increased, and the cost of farming has also increased accordingly. Now the price of hiring a farmer to work in the fields is no longer what it was five or ten years ago, and the price has almost doubled. The labor cost of farmers is increasing, but the number of farmers needed for a piece of land has not decreased. In this case, the cost has gone up. So our price will be much higher than others, and we can't get down at all.

On the other hand, our country has always stressed that we must keep the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land. In fact, our existing arable land is 2.45 billion mu, plus the grain imported from overseas is almost equal to 700 million mu of arable land. China now actually needs 3.15 billion mu of arable land to feed us. However, the population is still increasing, which may reach about 1.5 billion, and with the acceleration of urban-rural integration, people's demand for grain and other agricultural products will further grow.

The Central Rural work Conference held at the end of 2013 stressed "the need to ensure China's food security" and "the national food security strategy based on China, ensuring production capacity, moderate import, and scientific and technological support", "the rice bowls of the Chinese people should be firmly in their own hands at all times", and "our rice bowls should be mainly filled with Chinese grain."

With China's accession to the WTO, the country's door is open, and according to the role of the market economy, it is inevitable to import agricultural products in the long run, which results in a certain backlog of our own agricultural products, but we also have to consider the income of farmers and the issue of food security in our country.

Based on the above reasons, I am considering whether we should encourage our agriculture to go out and use our technology and the relatively cheap land, good climate and fertile soil of some countries to cultivate fields.

In addition, we have policy support. General Secretary Xi Jinping also clearly pointed out at the Central Rural work Conference that (China's agricultural development) should be good at making good use of two kinds of resources in both international and domestic markets, appropriately increasing imports and speeding up the pace of agriculture going out. As early as 2007, the No. 1 document of the Central Committee proposed to promote agriculture "going out" as a national strategy. These are opportunities.