BEIJING: China will further promote stable grain production and step up its ability to ensure food security, participants in the State Council’s Executive Meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, decided.
Thanks to a succession of bumper harvests in recent years, the country has had an ample supply of major agricultural products and ensured basic self-sufficiency in cereal grains as well as absolute grain security, officials said. There is a solid foundation for another good harvest this year. The area planted in winter wheat increased for the first time in nearly four years, and the crop is in better shape than it had been in previous years, officials said. Summer crops are expected to have another bumper harvest. Spring plowing and sowing has progressed smoothly, and the area planted in early-season rice remains stable. The intended farmland devoted to grains for the year will expand, with area in corn increasing from the previous year. “Stable grain production and greater ability to ensure food security have provided a solid underpinning for promoting stable economic and social development and responding to the impact of COVID-19. Annual grain output should remain at no less than 650 billion kilograms this year,” Li said. Policies including minimum purchase prices for rice and wheat and subsidies for corn and soybean producers will remain and be refined. Central budgetary investment and proceeds from the transfer of land-use rights at the provincial level will be tilted toward major grain-producing counties.
– The Daily Mail-People’s Daily News exchange item
