China's annual grain loss is as high as 70 billion jin. Hidden waste should not be underestimated.

Since 2011, Santai flour Co., Ltd. in Taihe County, Anhui Province has launched the "grain bank" business to provide farmers with grain storage, exchange and other services, solving the problem of high grain loss in the process of grain storage. The picture shows the Gaomiao business office of Santai Grain Bank. Photo taken by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Junxi

When it comes to food waste, people often focus on the "dominant waste" on the table, but pay little attention to the loss of each link after grain production. Statistics show that the annual loss of grain in China's processing and storage is as high as 70 billion jin, which poses a great threat to China's food security.

Farmers' heart disease caused by grain harvest and storage

After the summer harvest, grain harvesting and storage has become a worry for many farmers. "drying equipment cannot be bought, and drying grain is like fighting guerrillas. Some villagers harvested the wheat but could not find a suitable drying ground, and then it continued to rain, and more than 800,000 jin of wheat became moldy, resulting in a sudden loss of 300000 yuan, which is really a bumper harvest. " Wang Democratic, a big grain grower in Anhui, said.

At present, about 50% of the total amount of grain in China is preserved by farmers themselves. Due to backward storage conditions, lack of technical guidance, and the influence of insect molds and rodents, the losses are relatively heavy. Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture show that due to improper postpartum disposal, farmers lose 7% to 11% of their grain every year.

In addition to storage, the waste of food caused by transportation and processing can not be ignored.

According to Qian Jianwei, former deputy director of the State Grain Administration, at present, bulk grain transportation accounts for about 15% of China's grain transportation, most of which are transported through packaging. In transportation, first of all, we have to pack bags, and some have to open bags and store them in bulk, and then pack them when transported to the processing plant, resulting in scattering and leaving. It is estimated that the loss rate of multiple packages is about 5%.

The main reason for the serious waste in the processing process is that grain processing enterprises over-pursue refined, fine and white grain products, although this not only loses nutrition, but also significantly reduces the yield. Experts pointed out that in rice processing, with each additional polishing, the rice yield will be reduced by 1%, and more than 7 billion jin of grain will be lost every year.

"our country wastes about 50 billion jin of grain at the table every year, while the loss of storage, transportation, processing and other links is more than 70 billion jin. However, we usually talk about food waste, put more emphasis on the waste in the process of terminal consumption, and ignore the hidden waste in grain production, storage, circulation and other links. " Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

It is necessary to increase the source of grain and reduce expenditure at the same time.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's comprehensive agricultural production capacity has increased steadily, and grain output has achieved "ten consecutive increases". However, although China's food security is guaranteed at present, it is still faced with multiple challenges in the long run, such as the continuous reduction of grain production resources and the structural shortage of food supply, which leads to the tight balance of grain supply and demand in our country.

In order to meet the growing domestic demand, China imports more than 100 billion jin of grain every year. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, China is already the largest grain importer, and the import quantity is increasing year by year.

The food security situation is still grim, which highlights the seriousness of food losses. With regard to the grain loss rate, according to experts, the grain loss rate is generally less than 3% in developed countries, about 5% in developing countries, and higher than 5% in China, of which 8% is lost by farmers' households.

"We want to increase grain production every year, and we have invested a lot of manpower and financial resources to this end, but the losses caused by improper postpartum treatment have been ignored for a long time. To increase grain output, we should not only open up sources of food, but also reduce expenditure. To ensure national food security, it is imperative to save grain and reduce losses. " Cao Yang, director of the storeroom of the National Academy of Grain Sciences, said.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the Circular on strengthening the impairment of Grain processing, requiring the administrative departments of the agricultural products processing industry at all levels to establish the concept that "impairment means increasing production, impairment means increasing income, impairment means increasing supply, and impairment means increasing efficiency."

Grain loss is a systematic project.

In Hebei Daming, Jiangsu Taicang, Anhui Fengtai and other places, unlike in the past in a hurry to sell grain, many farmers now choose to deposit grain in the "grain bank" to earn interest. But it is not easy to achieve such a "conversion". Many grain department staff in northern Anhui reported that local warehouses are messy and have a wide range of points, and many grain depots do not have moisture-proof, cooling and other facilities, which can easily lead to food losses.

"from the practice in various places, we can see that there are multiple reasons for the serious post-natal loss of grain in our country, and the objective conditions, policies and measures, material input, system and extensive management are all the difficulties in rebuilding the" invisible grain field "in our country." Li Guoxiang said.

"to solve these problems, we should increase financial input, promote the improvement of grain storage conditions for farmers, develop technologies suitable for farmers to store grain, speed up the construction of grain circulation system, and reduce transportation losses." Said Chen Mingsheng, deputy director of the Institute of Economics of the Business School of China University of political Science and Law.

"reducing food losses is inseparable from science and technology and investment, and from infrastructure construction. The fundamental solution is to change the concept of grain storage, change the current situation of extensive management, and accelerate the upgrading of grain reserve management to modernization, green storage and intelligent management. " Zhao Shuanglian, chairman of the China Grain Storage Corporation, said.

Li Guoxiang said that people should further enhance their awareness of loving and saving grain. "from a more macro perspective, grain impairment is essentially a social management problem, and it also has to go through a transformation from extensive to fine, which is inseparable from the improvement of a series of systems and laws and regulations. it is inseparable from more scientific and technological investment and infrastructure construction, and even more inseparable from the change of people's ideas and consciousness." (our reporter Li Hui)

Short comment

Solve the waste of grain with overall thinking

Abundant grain means agricultural stability, and agricultural stability means national security-for a populous country like China, food security concerns people's livelihood, economy and politics.

In the face of the problem of food security, we should have such a scientific attitude and overall thinking-we should not only focus on open source while ignoring cost-saving, nor should we only focus on the dining table while ignoring the waste of storage and processing, let alone focus on hardware input and ignore system construction.

First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the consciousness of loving and saving grain. The root of observing the various aspects of wasting food lies in people's disregard of loving and saving grain and indifference to the phenomenon of wasting food. At present, the propaganda of loving and saving grain is mostly held in conjunction with the time points such as "World Food Day" or "propaganda week of loving and saving grain", which is few and shallow, and there is a lack of targeted education, criticism and punishment for people and things who waste food wantonly.

Second, it is necessary to straighten out grain prices. At present, China's grain-based agricultural products have reached the era of high prices, but grain prices are still obviously on the low side. Although there are complex economic and social considerations, when grain prices are so low that they are not in line with economic laws, it is bound to affect the enthusiasm of growing grain and the establishment of grain-saving consciousness. Only by straightening out grain prices can we promote grain production and economy.

In addition, we should pay attention to both capital investment and system construction. It is necessary to build a modern grain logistics system, vigorously promote bulk grain transportation, promote advanced and practical warehousing, loading and unloading, and transportation technology and equipment, and effectively reduce grain logistics losses. It is necessary to increase technical support and financial investment in scientific grain cultivation, grain storage, transportation, and processing. It is necessary to carry out scientific research on grain storage and speed up the development of new grain storage models such as grain banks.