Ensuring food security with the provincial governor's responsibility system

At the National Grain Circulation work Conference held on January 8, 2015, senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Grain Administration proposed that under the new economic normal, we should accurately grasp the new trend of grain circulation development and win the initiative in grain circulation reform.

For a long time, as the basis of the national economy, China's grain industry is facing a complex pattern. On the one hand, grain production has increased year after year, which has laid a solid foundation for national economic stability and central macro-control; on the other hand, grain production and circulation have formed policy dependence, and market-oriented reform is facing a difficult situation.

Especially under the new economic normal, the strategic adjustment of the economic structure has been accelerated, the globalization of grain trade and the marketization of grain purchase and sale have been continuously deepened, and various contradictions in the operation of the domestic grain market have been further intertwined and accumulated.

These problems are mainly reflected in the coexistence of the tight balance of total grain supply and demand and the periodic surplus of some varieties, the double squeeze of supporting market prices and the protection of the interests of agriculture and agriculture, and the contradiction between the appropriate utilization of international grain resources and the impact on the domestic market.

Under this situation, the next step of reform is not only to get rid of the drawbacks of the system and mechanism in the grain field for many years, but also to protect the interests of grain farmers, stabilize grain production and grain market, and ensure food security.

Five new bureaus forced the reform of grain circulation.

Since 2004, with the continuous policy support of the central government, grain production has entered a golden era. not long ago, the National Bureau of Statistics released data that in the past 2014, domestic grain output reached 607 million tons, achieving an unprecedented "11th consecutive increase" of grain.

However, in recent years, under the background of the structural adjustment of domestic economic transformation and the sustained downturn of the international economy, some new contradictions have gradually emerged between China's grain production and circulation, which are in urgent need of reform to solve the problem. Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, summed it up in five aspects:

According to the observation of grain supply, the domestic grain production capacity is basically stable above the level of 1 trillion jin, saying goodbye to the era of grain shortage, but the situation of relying on nature for grain production has not fundamentally changed. At present, the effective irrigated area of farmland accounts for only 51.5% of the cultivated land, and nearly half of the cultivated land is "Wangtiantian".

Xu Shaoshi pointed out that in the context of increasing constraints on resources and environment, it is necessary to change the development mode of simply pursuing quantitative growth and pay more attention to sustainable development.

From the analysis of grain demand, with the increase of population, the improvement of people's living standards and the development of urbanization, the total grain consumption continues to maintain rigid growth, grain is in a tight balance on the whole, high-quality grain varieties are tight, and the degree of external dependence of soybean is high.

At the same time, due to the decline in economic growth, falling energy prices, import substitution and other factors, the growth rate of grain consumption has slowed down, and there is a periodic oversupply of corn, indica rice and other varieties, so it is necessary to strengthen the guidance of grain production and consumption and pay more attention to improving grain quality and market competitiveness.

As far as the comparative advantage of international trade is concerned, due to the rise in the prices of domestic labor, land and other production factors, the cost of domestic grain production has gradually increased, while the price of agricultural commodities in the international market has shown a downward trend.

Data from the State Grain Administration show that at present, the dutiable price per ton of domestic corn, rice and wheat in Guangdong Port is about 750,900 and 500 yuan higher than that of the same varieties, respectively, and the price difference of corn even exceeded 1000 yuan at one time. The import prices of the three major grain varieties outside the quota approach the "ceiling". At the same time, the cost of domestic grain production "floor" continues to rise.

Ren Zhengxiao, director of the State Grain Administration, analyzed: "in this situation of double squeeze, there is less and less room to protect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain simply by relying on open acquisitions and raising purchase prices to support the market, and the effect is getting weaker and weaker. the current grain collection and storage policy system is facing an unprecedented test."

Judging from the mode of grain production and operation, new agricultural operators such as large grain growers, family farms and farmers' cooperatives are on the rise, and the trend of merger and reorganization of grain enterprises and relative concentration of production is accelerating. Promoting grain industrialization, developing various forms of moderate scale operation, and promoting the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure will become the direction of development.

From the perspective of resource allocation mode and macro-control mode, the marginal effect of stimulating grain production by increasing direct subsidies is obviously decreasing. "too much direct price intervention in the grain market may restrain the role of the market mechanism or even distort the market, too much grain inventory is concentrated in the hands of the government, especially the central government, and grain prices and market regulation mechanisms need to be improved quickly." Xu Shaoshi said.

Deepen reform and abandon policy dependence

The fundamental goal and foundation of the reform is to ensure national food security. At the just-concluded Central Rural work Conference, the State Council demanded that China's agriculture enter a new stage of changing the mode of development in an all-round way, and adhere to the protection of national food security as the primary task of agricultural modernization.

The top priority is to increase the enthusiasm of local governments in grain production. A senior official of the State Grain Administration said in a speech: "Grain production must not be relaxed. Once grain production collapses, it will not be able to recover for several years." Cadres of some local grain departments also pointed out that under the background of successive bumper harvests in China's grain production, the awareness of food security in some places has been diluted, grain production has been relaxed, grain circulation has been neglected, and there is a phenomenon of over-reliance on the central government.

Ren Zhengxiao pointed out that it is necessary to take the full implementation of the provincial governor responsibility system for food security as the core to further enhance the ability to ensure food security. "the provincial governor responsibility system for food security is a basic system for implementing the national food security strategy and ensuring national food security." He said: in the next step, all localities should introduce specific measures to fully implement the responsibility system for food security as soon as possible, and earnestly implement all responsibilities for food security. Sinorama learned that in 2014, Shanxi, Yunnan, Guangdong and other provinces and regions have fully incorporated the responsibility of food security into the target responsibility assessment system of governments at all levels.