At present, cotton papaya is the only genetically modified crop approved in China.

At a news conference held by the Information Office of the State Council on December 5, Bi Meijia, chief economist and spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Zeng Yande, director of the planting Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, answered hot issues of social concern, such as increasing grain production and the quality of cultivated land.

Food rations are absolutely safe, and grain imports will not increase significantly.

Bi Meijia said that there has been another bumper grain harvest this year, reaching a level of 1.2 trillion jin for two consecutive years.

Grain has been increasing year after year, why are imports still on the rise? According to data from the General Administration of Customs, China imported 15.65 million tons of grain and cereal flour in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 46.3 percent over the same period last year. Bi Meijia said: last year, the central government proposed to build a national food security strategy under the new situation, which is to adhere to the principle of "giving priority to us, gaining a foothold at home, ensuring production capacity, moderate import, and scientific and technological support." the core point is to secure the rice bowls of the Chinese people, which are mainly filled with Chinese grain. At present, the global grain output is about 2.4 billion tons, and China feeds the world's 1x5 population with an output of 600 million tons. China has the confidence and ability to solve the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people.

Bi Meijia analyzed that in recent years, China's grain imports have increased, but the total amount is not large, mainly because the grain price in the international market is lower than ours, but also in order to meet the diversified domestic consumption needs. At present, the imports of rice, wheat and corn account for only 2.4% of our domestic output, which is still relatively low. In the future, we may have to import some varieties that are in short supply at home, but grain imports will not increase significantly.

Stick to the red line of cultivated land and the two bottom lines of grain sown area and grain area

In response to issues of social concern, such as soil pollution and cultivated land protection, Zeng Yande said that cultivated land is the lifeblood of grain production, and the guarantee of food security basically lies in cultivated land. The central government proposed to protect not only the red line of cultivated land quantity, but also the red line of cultivated land quality. At present, the environmental problems caused by cultivated land pollution are relatively prominent, which he sums up as "three major" and "three low":

The "three major", that is, the proportion of medium-and low-yield fields is relatively large, accounting for 70% of the total area of cultivated land; the area of degradation of cultivated land quality is relatively large, accounting for more than 40% of the total area of cultivated land; the area of polluted cultivated land is relatively large, and the over-standard rate of cultivated land soil sites in the country is 19.4%. There are more agricultural film residues in surface water eutrophication in the south and nitrate pollution in groundwater in the north, and in the northwest and other places.

The "three low" means that the content of organic matter in cultivated land is low, and the content of soil organic matter in cultivated land is 2.08%, which is 0.07% lower than that in the early 1990s; the grade of supplementary cultivated land is low, accounting for more than 5 million mu of balanced cultivated land each year, with a difference of 2 Mu by 3 soil fertility grades; the basic soil fertility is low, and the contribution rate of basic soil fertility is about 50%, which is 20% lower than that of developed countries.

Zeng Yande said that the agricultural sector is making every effort to strengthen the protection and improvement of the quality of cultivated land. By 2020, the productivity of cultivated land will be increased by 0.5 grade, and the content of soil organic matter will be increased by 0.5%. The quality of cultivated land can be improved by improving soil, improving soil fertility, popularizing the integration of water and fertilizer, deep ploughing and deep loosening, and controlling the application amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the problems of acidification, salinization and heavy metal pollution of cultivated land will be effectively controlled.

According to reports, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Land and Resources have jointly issued a "Circular on further doing a good job in the delineation of permanent basic farmland," clearly giving priority to high-quality arable land that is easy to be occupied in the suburbs of large and medium-sized cities and around transportation lines. as permanent basic farmland. At the same time, it is also pointed out that the area of basic farmland can not be reduced in each province. Zeng Yande said: while adhering to the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land, we should also adhere to two bottom lines: the sown area of grain should not be less than 1.65 billion mu, and the area of grain should not be less than 1.4 billion mu.

At present, the only GM crops approved in China are cotton and papaya.

In response to a reporter's question on genetically modified crops, Bi Meijia made it clear once again that so far, only cotton and papaya have been approved for planting in China, and no commercial production of genetically modified staple grains has been approved. He said that the attitude of the Ministry of Agriculture on the issue of GM is consistent and clear. First, we should be bold in research and adhere to independent innovation; second, we should be cautious in promotion to ensure safety.

Bi Meijia said: transgenic is a new technology and a new industry, which has broad prospects for development.At present, the situation of global research and development of agricultural genetically modified technology is very strong, and developed countries try their best to seize the technological commanding heights. China, as a large agricultural production country and a large consumer of agricultural products, has a large population and little water shortage, and drought, waterlogging, diseases and insect pests occur frequently, so there is great pressure to ensure the long-term effective supply of major agricultural products such as grain. In the new technology of transgenic technology, we should have a place to seize the commanding heights.

Bi Meijia said that in the future, the steps of non-edible-indirect-edible will be followed to steadily promote genetically modified crops. First of all, the development of non-edible cash crops, followed by feed crops, processing raw material crops, the third is the general food crops, and finally the main grain crops.

Tap the new potential of grain production and put the green concept through the process of increasing production

Grain has been increasing year after year, will it continue to increase next year?

Bi Meijia said: with a bumper grain harvest this year, the task next year will be even more arduous. The Ministry of Agriculture has planned ahead of time to do a good job in the current autumn and winter seed production. Judging from the current situation, it is expected that the area of winter wheat will increase slightly this year, with high sowing quality, good soil moisture, neat emergence of winter wheat and the best growth in recent years.

According to reports, in recent years, through "storing grain in the land" and "storing grain in technology", the Ministry of Agriculture has promoted agricultural mechanization, promoted system and mechanism innovation, and focused on major grain-producing counties to tap the new potential of grain production capacity.

Bi Meijia also said that as the various resource elements of grain production are already very tight, in the face of resource, market, climate, ecological and other challenges, the Ministry of Agriculture is formulating a comprehensive implementation plan to ensure sustainable national food security strategy.

The first is to establish "three ideas": the concept of increasing production, the concept of efficiency and the concept of green. The second is to promote comprehensive policies. We should adhere to the combination of the improvement of facilities and integrated technology, the stable development of production with the efficient utilization of resources, and the combination of individual measures with comprehensive measures to promote the sustained and stable development of grain. Third, highlight the green production model to tackle key problems, and put the green concept through the whole process of the production model.