China on the move to ensure grain production, security

Various localities in China are doing their best to promote stable grain production and step up their ability to ensure food security.

Farmers in Jiangxi province, a major rice production base in the country, have recently been busy harvesting rice. After they reaped rice on their farmland in Kangliang village, Yudu county in the province, their rice grains were instantly loaded onto the trucks of rice dealers.

A farmer harvests wheat in Qianzhuanmen Village of Fucheng County, Hengshui, north China's Hebei Province, June 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong)

“We’ve entrusted an agriculture company to purchase seedlings and fertilizer, and it also sows seeds and carries out crop protection tasks through the use of drones, having helped us to reduce at least 200 yuan in costs per mu (15 mu equaling one hectare) of land, ” said a farmer named Duan Xiaorong.

High-quality seeds are crucial for producing high-quality and high-yield grains. At present, the coverage rate for improved crop varieties in China stands at more than 96 percent and the area of independently bred crop varieties accounts for more than 95 percent.

In Bahu village, Donghai county in east China’s Jiangsu province, farmers nowadays no longer worry about being able to sell all of their grains because they normally receive orders for their rice grains even before the harvest season begins.

“This year, I expanded the rice planting area to more than 1,300 mu because a manufacturing company had signed a contract with me, agreeing to purchase my grains for a unit price 10 percent higher than average,” said a farmer named Cao Yuanjin. With their high-quality grains having been sold for higher prices, farmers are now more enthusiastic about growing rice.

Various localities across the country have rolled out promotion activities to increase grain varieties, improve grain quality, and build up their grain brands. Under the framework of the Quality Grain Project campaign launched in 2017, some 389 counties and 1,200 enterprises have been provided with support as model producers of quality grain and edible oil, and a number of relatively well-recognized regional grain brands have emerged.

This year, the planting area for high-quality wheat in Funan county in east China’s Anhui province has surpassed 300,000 mu. The county has provided six high-quality wheat varieties for farmers to grow, while inviting agricultural companies and grain trading companies to assist farmers in promoting standardized and large-scale farming. Thanks to these efforts, the yield of high-quality summer wheat accounted for 60 percent of the overall summer wheat yield in the county.

Grain storage is also an important guarantee to ensure food production. Since the Quality Grain Project was carried out, the country has established more than 5,400 professional post-production grain service centers to provide cleaning, drying, storage, processing and marketing services for farmers.

This year, Qiao Xiaode, a farmer from Jiaxiang county, east China’s Shandong province planted 300 mu of corn because he was confidence that the grains would definitely enjoy good sales based on his experience last year.

Last year, even before Qiao started to harvest corn, a local post-production grain service center contacted him and purchased his corn grains. “The unit price offered by the grain service center was higher than the average, and in addition to that, no extra cost related to transporting, drying and the storing of the corn was required,” the farmer said.

China has established and improved its grain quality and safety inspection and monitoring system, formulating 29,000 technical parameters for food safety inspection, and building more than 1,500 food safety inspection institutions.

Recently, Hechuan district in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality has started inspecting the quality of newly harvested grains, including rice, corn and rapeseeds. “We collected 36 samples of the grains reaped from 15 major grain production bases in the district. Based on the inspection results, we will urge grain trading and storing companies to do their best to ensure food safety,” said an official from Hechuan district.