Great changes have taken place in the structure of grain supply and demand varieties

In recent years, the grain production situation has never been better. In 2003, the total grain output of the whole country was 864 billion yuan, which increased to 1,249.5 billion yuan last year. During the 12-year period, the total grain output increased by 385.5 billion yuan, with an average annual increase of more than 30 billion yuan. For 12 consecutive years, the situation has been good, grain production has increased and farmers have continued to increase their income. However, there are two sides to everything, and at the moment we have two food prices that are 30 to 50 per cent higher than the market.

Judging from our current situation, the most prominent problem is the excessive supply of corn and the obvious increase in the supply of soybeans, which we deeply feel. Last year's grain output was 1,249 billion jin. Our past demand was about 1280 - 1290 billion jin. Compared with our total demand, our total supply exceeded demand. Last year alone, we had a grain demand of 40 - 50 billion jin, and last year's grain import volume was close to 250 billion yuan. Then the problem comes. There is only a gap of 40 or 50 billion jin, but last year's imported grain was nearly 250 billion jin, more than 200 billion jin more than our gap. Among them, 160 billion jin is soybeans. If there are too many soybeans, it will affect our own grain. From this point of view, one of our current outstanding problems is that the variety structure of supply and demand has changed greatly. The next step is to solve this problem.

Agricultural policy has played a great role in mobilizing farmers 'enthusiasm since the 16th National Congress. First, agricultural taxes have been abolished; second, direct subsidies for grain production, amounting to 270 billion yuan a year, have reduced farmers 'production costs to a certain extent and increased farmers' income; third, in view of the grain market, production of scarce products has avoided their worries. These policies, especially those related to price and structure, have been implemented for more than a decade. In the past, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. The most prominent ones were two varieties, wheat and rice, in 2004. The price of wheat in 2004 was 0.72 yuan per catty, while the current price is more than 1 yuan per catty. At the beginning of the policy, the price of rice was 0.72 yuan per catty at that time. After a few years, the current price is 1.33 yuan per catty. The price of middle rice and so on has also risen. At that time, the price of corn did not rise, but in 2007 corn was 0.7 yuan per catty, but by the year before last it had already reached 1.02 yuan.

In the past, grain has actually been subject to the government's minimum purchase price. In the past seven or eight years, the pricing mechanism has actually been implemented not by the market, but by the government.