BEIJING, CHINA — China has made huge strides in its quest to ensure its food supplies, government officials said in a white paper released on Oct. 14.
Zhang Wufeng, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said at a press conference in Beijing that China’s current food security was “the best in history.”
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed between 1949 and 2018, China’s total grain output rose by nearly five times from 113 million tonnes to 658 million tonnes. Also during that time, per capita output more than doubled from 209 kilograms to 472 kilograms.
The white paper concluded that China must rely on its own resources to ensure its food supplies, sending a message to overseas producers that the country will not be looking to expand imports to meet domestic demands.
Grain output was expected to reach about 780 million tonnes in 2019 — for the fifth year in a row.
The white paper noted that grain output and demand would remain “closely aligned,” meaning there would be little excess production.
Among the future goals mentioned in the white paper:
- By 2022, China will complete the construction of 66.67 million hectares of high quality farmland.
- The country will improve the management of emergency grain reserves and build a modern grain market system.
- It will adapt itself to the World Trade Organization rules, actively and steadily reforming its grain purchase and storage systems and pricing mechanisms so as to give full play to the decisive role of the market in allocating grain resources and let the government play its role better.
