The target price reform of agricultural products is live operation.

Reporter: what is the effect of the target price reform of agricultural products that was implemented last year?

Chen Xiwen: price subsidy, or price support, is a very important form of agricultural support and protection adopted by governments of various countries. Although the target price seems to be separated from the price subsidy, such a system should be said to have very mature experience in the United States as early as possible. One of the biggest differences between China and the United States is that we have too many farmers. There are more than 2 million farmers in the United States and 230 million in China, 115 times that of others. Then the amount of money you have to pay to each household is very large.

However, judging from the current situation, a pilot one-year target price subsidy system was implemented last year, one against cotton in Xinjiang and the other against soybeans in the three eastern provinces and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia. On the whole, the effect of cotton now seems to be better than that of soybeans, and certainly not absolutely, because soybeans are harvested later. From the present point of view, the effect of cotton is a little better, the very important reason is that it is very different from the general grain circulation. When cotton is harvested, it is seed cotton, which cannot be sold, and must be sold to a cotton ginning mill, which can only enter the market after it is rolled into lint. So the flow direction of cotton is specific. Because cotton is going to enter the auction market, from the point of view of cotton, the weight of lint from each gin factory has specifications and standards, and each packet of lint has a strict serial number. So it is easy to count out how much lint a factory has produced. Then there is a certain proportion of lint and seed cotton, so I know how much lint you put in, so you can't fake it. It is this special link in the acquisition of cotton that makes the price of cotton easy to go wrong. Grain is different. Everyone can harvest it as long as they are willing to harvest it.

It should be said that after the implementation of the target price system for cotton in Xinjiang, it is not a big loss for farmers, because the price of 19800 yuan per ton set by the government is only 600 yuan lower than that of the year before last, and 600 yuan lower than the retail price. In fact, a kilogram of cotton is only 6 yuan short, so the impact is not too great. However, it liberates the market. Farmers can sell at the market price, and the gin mill can collect at the market price. When the result comes out, the market price of our entire lint is shown independently, more than 13000 yuan per ton. Well, compared with the original temporary storage price, that is only about 2/3 of it, which is close to the international market. Then the cotton market was formed, and the farmers did not suffer much loss. However, this is in Xinjiang, because it is the main cotton producing area of our country, and the target price for non-Xinjiang cotton areas is different. You buy and sell at the market price, but the government subsidy to non-Xinjiang cotton farmers is no more than 2,000 yuan per ton. If we need to make up more than 6000 yuan there and two thousand here, then the cotton production in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins will certainly be greatly reduced this year. However, in terms of current supply and demand, reducing a little will not have a big impact, so let's see what to do in the future. Therefore, the target price of cotton should be said to have achieved very important results, but we have to look at it again. There are no two cycles, and we still can't see it clearly. We have to try again. Should we expand it or not?

Reporter: in the context of the new normal economy, the financial pressure is also relatively large, will it reduce this part of the financial investment?

Chen Xiwen: the work report of the prime minister's government makes it very clear that no matter how difficult the financial situation is, the policy of benefiting agriculture cannot be weakened but can only be strengthened, and the funds for supporting agriculture can only be increased but not reduced. Of course, there are new problems in our current subsidies. As I mentioned just now, there are often experts, including your media, who say that this subsidy is not good. This is not the case, some things are to let the market balance itself. But it is true that some of our subsidies have not been able to play a very good role, there is this problem, so the next step is to change the subsidy itself.

In addition, you have to adapt to the requirements of the WTO. We are a member of the WTO, and our total agricultural subsidies cannot exceed 8.5% of the total agricultural output. This is our promise. Moreover, for sensitive products, such as grain, cotton and oil, the subsidy for each product cannot exceed 8.5% of the GDP of this product. Like vegetables can't be subsidized, you can't bring that here to make up, that's not allowed. It is precisely such a system that restricts us. Some of our 8.5 subsidies are close to the upper limit, and some have even broken through. If cotton does not change, it will break through. You can see that cotton can only supplement 8.5%. Now, if cotton is really allowed to enter casually in the international market, it will be about 10001 points, up to 10500. Well, our current purchase price is 19800 yuan per ton, which is almost double, of course, a lot more. Well, others are also close to the limit, so we also have to study how to reform this subsidy. The reform should be able to adapt to the rules of WTO. Well, the rules of WTO are like ours, such as price subsidies for agriculture, price subsidies for means of production, and so on. These are all called yellow box subsidies. Yellow box subsidies are 8.5% of the restricted ones, but it does not limit your green box subsidies. Can I move this yellow box subsidies to green boxes? The most prominent aspect of the green box subsidy is that the subsidy that distorts the cost price is put on the direct subsidy to the income of farmers, then it can be reformed.

Reporter: will the acquisition of supporting the market be cancelled?

Chen Xiwen: it is very clear in the Premier's government report that we continue to apply purchase prices for two grain varieties, that is, wheat and rice. Then cotton and soybeans are among the temporary purchase prices. The cotton and soybean pilot project is limited to Xinjiang and Northeast China, and the rest is still how to do it.

Reporter: even now, some experts say that they can no longer adapt to the development of the market.

Chen Xiwen: then you have to come up with a good way. Many experts bargain to make up for the separation and so on. Because you have to realistically see the difference between us and the United States, as I just said, the number of farmers is 115 times that of it, and things that are very successful in others may cost you so much that you can't operate them at all. When it comes to the United States, it is very clear that there are 2 million farmers across the country, and in the United States Department of Agriculture, each farmer has a household registration book with him. Where is your peasant farm, what is the latitude and longitude, how big is the land area, how big is the arable land, and what is the main original planting? it's all clear. It is very difficult for us to make it clear that this is a big difference between our traditional small peasant countries in the East and those in the New World.

In the past, some experts have proposed, for example, whether you can subsidize and not pay according to the land, you will make up for it when he sells it, when you buy it. Of course, this is a good idea, but the problem is that now it is not just the government that collects, a lot of grain is collected by enterprises, so do you give them the money for the subsidy? If you ask him to help the farmers again, will you be sure of it? So these things are not very simple, it seems easy to make a suggestion, but you have to start from reality. I would like to describe this reform as a "live operation". You cannot say that I have made up my mind, and what to do next after that, you must maintain normal annual production. In this process, there must be no big ups and downs in grain and no reduction in farmers' income. All these issues have to be considered. Therefore, in live work, under the circumstances of reform while running, it must be more cautious and strengthen its promotion.

You said to support the market acquisition, the final result is that our main products are higher than the international market price, so external products can come in. Processing enterprises are reluctant to use domestic ones because they are cheap on the outside. That complicates our situation. This means that the level of our support is too high. Well, in retrospect, it does not mean that the government has to raise it so high, because if the farmers do not reach this level, they cannot make up for the cost. If you do not make up for the farmer, he is not motivated, so you should consider how to reduce and reduce the cost of the farmer. Well, the implementation of a series of business subject innovation, business system innovation, deepening large-scale service operation are all related to cost reduction, of course, cost reduction is also related to subsidies. Whether subsidy is direct subsidy or indirect subsidy, and what way to subsidize it, there are still many questions to be studied.