Looking at the Food Security under the New normal from the bumper harvests in successive years

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics a few days ago, grain output this year has increased by 10.3 billion jin over the previous year. So far, China has achieved an "eleven consecutive increase" in grain output since the founding of the people's Republic of China.

Behind years of bumper harvests is the continuous improvement of the level of China's agricultural modernization. However, we must be soberly aware that due to the constraints of soil and water resources and many other factors, the realization of high grain yield in China is still faced with multiple challenges.

The improvement of the level of agricultural modernization promotes the bumper harvest of grain in successive years.

"at present, China's economic development has entered a new normal, and the overall economic operation is stable, but the downward pressure is still great, and successive bumper grain harvests have laid a solid foundation for the whole year's economy." Ye Xingqing, head of the Rural Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said.

Behind the bumper harvest of grain in successive years is the great-leap-forward development of modern agriculture in our country. The traditional agricultural scene of "cattle ploughing and horse ploughing" and "whipping and whipping" and farmers "facing the loess and facing the sky" have now undergone fundamental changes.

Data show that at present, the comprehensive mechanization level of crop cultivation and harvest in China is more than 60 percent, nearly 30 percentage points higher than that of 10 years ago, of which the comprehensive mechanization rates of rice, wheat and corn are all more than 75 percent. The whole process of wheat production in China has basically been mechanized. The level of rice mechanical planting and harvesting has increased from 6% and 27% 10 years ago to 38% and 81% respectively, and the harvest level of corn machinery has increased from 2% to 55%.

Corresponding to the improvement of the level of mechanization year by year, the degree of scale operation of agriculture in our country is constantly improving. Data show that in recent years, the proportion of contracted cultivated land transfer has increased year by year. At present, the transfer area of contracted cultivated land in rural areas in China has reached 380 million mu, accounting for 28.8% of the total contracted cultivated land area. On the basis of an increase of 4.8% last year, it increased by 2.8% in the first half of this year.

In addition, agricultural high yield, improved varieties first, as the leader of modern agricultural science and technology, China's seed industry has achieved rapid development in recent years. At present, the net assets of the top 50 seed industry in China are close to 20 billion yuan, an increase of 300% compared with 10 years ago.

The realization of high grain yield faces multiple challenges

Although China's grain production has enjoyed "eleven consecutive increases", due to resource constraints, backward ways of increasing production and many other factors, the realization of high grain production in China still faces multiple challenges.

"if a large-scale and serious natural disaster occurs during the critical period of grain growth, there may be the result of yield reduction and poor harvest." Said Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to reports, the constraints of cultivated land and water resources on grain production in China continue to intensify. Farmland facilities in some areas are aging, and the complete rate of backbone projects in large-scale irrigation areas across the country is only 60%. Medium-and low-yield fields account for about 2/3 of the arable land, and about half of the country's "Wangtiantian". In addition, the serious problems of cultivated land quality degradation and groundwater overexploitation are prominent.

"compared with developed countries, China's grain production is still in the stage of extensive production, which depends on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and flood irrigation, which is not sustainable." Said Li Ji, a professor at China Agricultural University.

The data show that at present, the average amount of chemical fertilizer per mu in China is 21.2 kg, which is 4.1 times the world average, and grain production is still difficult to get rid of the obvious characteristics of "big farmers, big water and big fertilizer."

The extensive growth model which relies on a large amount of chemical fertilizer investment is easy to cause soil consolidation and lead to the decline of the quality of cultivated land. At present, the average content of soil organic matter in cultivated land in China is only 1.8%, which is 0.35% lower than that in the early 1990s. Even the most fertile black land in the northeast has only 2.9 per cent of organic matter, 1 percentage point lower than in the 1980s.

"China's grain has increased year after year, but the various resource elements of grain production have been very tight, and the bearing pressure on the ecological environment is increasing." Bi Meijia, chief economist and spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, said.

Realizing "Green production increase" China's Agriculture has stepped into the New normal of improving quality and increasing efficiency

Today, China's economy is moving from high-speed growth to a new normal of medium-and low-speed growth, improving quality and increasing efficiency. Experts pointed out that in the future, China's grain production must also shift from simply paying attention to the growth of output to paying more attention to the improvement of grain production capacity and the transformation of the mode of development, so as to achieve "green growth" of grain and ensure food security under the new normal.

"in the future, we should pay attention to improving the comprehensive production capacity of grain." Han Yijun, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of China Agricultural University, believes that in the future, it is necessary to speed up the transformation of the mode of agricultural development, from the extensive management of mainly pursuing output growth, resources and consumption to paying equal attention to quantity and quality benefits, improving competitiveness, and paying attention to sustainable and intensive development.

The reporter recently learned from the Ministry of Agriculture that China will launch a green production model to tackle key problems, strive to achieve a sustainable national food security strategy, and strive to achieve "zero growth" in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in grain and agricultural production by 2020, and strive to improve land output rate, input utilization rate, and labor productivity.

In China's vast land, the improvement of barrier soil, soil testing formula fertilization, the integration of water and fertilizer, deep ploughing and deep pine …... A series of efforts to improve the agricultural ecological environment are under way.

"it is necessary to put the green concept throughout the whole process of tackling key problems in the mode of increasing production, and in the technological path, promote new varieties with high yield, high efficiency, and multi-resistance, promote scale, standardization, and mechanization, and promote the quality construction of cultivated land. Vigorously promote fertilizer control, drug control, water control and other cost-saving and efficiency-increasing technologies." Bi Mei's family said.