Speed up the transformation and upgrading of agriculture and no longer pursue the continuous increase of grain

On 9 March, the second plenary session of the third session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee was held in the Great Hall of the people. Qian Keming, chief economist of the Ministry of Agriculture, made a speech at the meeting entitled "changing the way and adjusting the structure to accelerate the Development of Modern Agriculture during the 13th five-year Plan."

Qian Keming said: due to "good policies, human efforts, and heaven's help," China's grain production has increased for 11 consecutive years, and farmers' income has increased rapidly for 11 consecutive years, which has played an important role in supporting the stable development of the social economy. However, with the economy entering the new normal, the internal and external environment of China's agricultural development is also undergoing profound changes. "in the future, we can no longer pursue'12 consecutive increases'or even'20 consecutive increases'. We must speed up the transformation and upgrading of agriculture."

Why can we no longer pursue the continuous increase of grain, but must speed up the transformation and upgrading of agriculture? Qian Keming believes that first, the overdraft of resources and environment is serious, and the mode of development must be changed as soon as possible; second, the consumption structure changes, and the industrial structure needs to be adjusted accordingly; third, it is deeply affected by the international market, and the supporting regulation and control policies should be further improved; fourth, the growth motivation has changed, and transformation and upgrading have a certain basis.

"China's agriculture is undergoing transformation, so we should comply with the trend, take the initiative to adjust development goals, change the mode of development, deepen reform, and speed up the upgrading of traditional agriculture to modern agriculture." So how to change the mode of agricultural development and deepen rural reform, Qian Keming gave the following suggestions:

First, we should scientifically formulate the 13th five-year Plan to ensure food security. Qian Keming said: it is predicted that China's total grain demand in 2020 will be about 720 million tons, with a maximum production capacity of about 650 million tons. However, in order to make room for structural adjustment, transformation, and ecological protection, the annual grain output can be maintained at the level of 610 million tons during the 13th five-year Plan, the deficiency can be replenished through imports, and the self-sufficiency rate of grain (including soybeans) can be maintained at about 85 percent in 2020.

The second is to optimize the industrial structure and improve agricultural efficiency. Optimize the structure of planting and breeding, increase the supply of animal products, gradually achieve both grain and forage, the combination of agriculture and animal husbandry, and circular development; improve the modern agricultural industrial system, promote the convergence of production, addition and marketing, and the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary production; adjust the distribution of agricultural productive forces, promote regional rebalancing, reduce the round-trip transportation of raw materials and products, reduce costs, and reduce the carbon footprint.

The third is to change the mode of development and promote the sustainable development of agriculture. It is necessary to promote conservation-oriented agricultural technology, achieve zero growth in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, improve the utilization efficiency of water resources, comprehensively promote standardization, improve the quality and safety level of agricultural products, and build a new management system to improve competitiveness.

Fourth, adjust the policy objectives and improve the ways of supporting regulation and control. Qian Keming said: at present, the goal of China's agricultural support policy is to increase output, and the policy orientation is to encourage farmers to increase input. "in the future, policy support should be further strengthened, and the support direction should realize the 'two changes', that is, to guide the mode of production to the sustainable direction of more water-saving, fertilizer-saving, medicine-saving, high-quality, safe, ecological and efficient, and to guide the mode of management to the direction of modern agriculture of scale, standardization, specialization, brand, organization and information. Train farmers to form a 'resource-saving, environment-friendly, management intelligent' mode of production and operation. " At the same time, Qian Keming stressed the need to deepen the reform of the price formation mechanism of agricultural products, improve the market regulation and control system, and deepen the reform of agriculture and rural areas to provide good policy and institutional guarantee for the development of modern agriculture.