It is necessary to make bold research on the broad prospect of agricultural transgenic development.

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that this year's grain output will increase by 10.3 billion jin over the previous year. Because of the drought in the early stage, why did grain achieve the "11th consecutive increase"? Why are imports still increasing? Will grain production be developed through transgenic technology? Bi Meijia, chief economist and spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture, answered the above hot questions at a news conference held by the Information Office of the State Council on the 5th.

"every year we are worried about grain production as if we were treading on thin ice."

Q: why is grain production still increasing due to severe drought in some areas this year?

Bi Meijia: although severe summer and autumn droughts have occurred in Huang-Huai and parts of the northeast, the meteorological conditions are generally good this year, and there have been no large-scale droughts and floods throughout the country. The maximum drought-affected area of crops in this summer and autumn is more than 70 million mu, more than 20 million mu less than in the same period in the past five years.

The summer drought in Liaoning and Henan is relatively serious, which is mainly concentrated in the west of the two provinces. The output of autumn grain in Liaoning was reduced by 8.8 billion jin; in Henan, due to the fact that the affected area was not the main producing area, the irrigation conditions were better, and the drought resistance was strong, so the output was reduced by only 800 million jin.

This year, the country has a bumper harvest of summer grain and autumn grain as a whole. The bumper harvest of autumn grain benefited from an increase of 11.65 million mu in area, especially corn, a high-yield crop, by 11.37 million mu, and increased grain production by nearly 10 billion jin due to the increase in area and structural adjustment, which made up for some of the losses due to the disaster. At the same time, the areas not affected by the disaster increased significantly. Heilongjiang, the largest grain province in the country, increased by 4.76 billion jin. Anhui, Hunan and other disaster-stricken provinces did not reduce production this year and achieved restorative growth.

Realistically speaking, every year we are worried about grain production, like treading on thin ice, and the strings of disaster resistance and reduction are tight.

"Grain imports will not increase significantly."

Q: in the first 10 months of this year, China's imports of cereals and grain flour increased by 46.3% over the same period last year. Why increase production and import at the same time?

Bi Meijia: the central government has proposed to adhere to the policy of "giving priority to us, gaining a foothold at home, ensuring production capacity, moderate import, and scientific and technological support." the core is to secure the rice bowls of the Chinese people. It is proposed that the bottom line of ensuring "basic self-sufficiency of grain and absolute safety of rations" is determined by resource endowment, and we must make a choice.

In recent years, China's grain imports have increased, mainly because international grain prices are lower than domestic grain prices. at the same time, in order to meet the diversified domestic consumption needs, it is also necessary to import some varieties for adjustment. At present, the imports of rice, wheat and corn account for only 2.4% of domestic output. In the future, we may have to import some varieties that are in short supply at home, but grain imports will not increase significantly.

China will not buy too much grain in the international market. There are 260 million farmers in China, even if the level of urbanization is improved in the future, some farmers will go to the cities, and a considerable proportion of farmers still rely on agriculture for a living, so there is still a balance between imported grain and farmers' employment and income.

"ensure that agricultural transgenic research and development is carried out in an orderly manner in accordance with the law"

Q: will grain production be developed through transgenic technology in the future?

Bi Meijia: the attitude of the Ministry of Agriculture towards the issue of genetically modified genes is to be bold in research, adhere to independent innovation, and be cautious in promotion to ensure safety. Transgenic is a new technology with broad prospects for development. now developed countries try their best to seize the commanding heights of technology, and developing countries should also actively follow suit.

China is a large agricultural production country and a large consumer of agricultural products, with a large population and little water shortage, and drought, waterlogging, diseases and insect pests occur frequently, so there is a great pressure to ensure the long-term effective supply of grain and other major agricultural products. In 2008, the State Council approved the establishment of a major GM project. So far, the only GM crops approved in China are cotton and papaya, and no commercial production of genetically modified staple grains has been approved.

In the future, we will first develop non-edible cash crops, followed by feed crops, processing raw material crops, general food crops, and finally staple grain crops. In this process, the Ministry of Agriculture will certainly perform its duties in accordance with the law and ensure safety.

With regard to the phenomenon of carrying out agricultural GM experiments and production in violation of laws and regulations, the Ministry of Agriculture will find and resolutely investigate and deal with them in accordance with the law, so as to ensure that China's agricultural GM research and development work is carried out in an orderly manner in accordance with the law.