Xinhua Finance and Economics, Beijing, April 10 Recently, the executive meeting of the State Council passed the "New Round of Action Plan for Improving Grain Production Capacity of 100 Billion Jin (2024-2030)", which provides important guidance for ensuring food security in the mainland.
Xinhua financial reporter research found that all localities in improving the technical level, giving subsidy policies and other aspects of the force, actively promote soybean production and supply, improve soybean yield will be the focus of the future.
Grain output has exceeded 1.3 trillion catties for 9 consecutive years
According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, since 2007, the grain output stood at the 1 trillion jin level, the mainland's grain output in 2010, 2012, and 2015 continued to increase, quickly crossing the 1.1 trillion jin, 1.2 trillion jin, and 1.3 trillion jin mark, achieving another breakthrough on a high base. As of 2023, the mainland's grain output has stabilized at more than 1.3 trillion catties for nine consecutive years. (All data below are from the National Bureau of Statistics)
The reporter found that the rapid breakthrough in grain output from 2007 to 2015 was largely due to the rapid growth of the sown area of grain crops on the mainland, and the current sown area of crops is at a historical high.
The mainland's grain yield is also increasing at the same time. In recent years, the growth rate of grain output per unit area has slowed down significantly. From 2007 to 2015, the grain yield of the mainland increased from 4402.11 kg/ha to 5553.02 kg/ha, and from 2015 to 2023, the grain yield of the mainland further increased to 5845.33 kg/ha.
Zhu Jing, chief professor of Zhongshan of Nanjing Agricultural University and director of the International Food and Agricultural Economics Research Center of Nanjing Agricultural University, said in an interview that the per capita arable land area of the mainland is far lower than the world average, and in order to sustainably obtain the current and future food consumption far above the world average, it is necessary to continuously improve the output level per unit of cultivated land.
The yield level of the main grain-producing areas is of great significance for maintaining the food security of the mainland. Under the condition that the cultivated land area remains unchanged, the change in grain yield in the main producing areas will inevitably affect the total grain volume of the whole country to a certain extent. In terms of regions, in 2023, the total grain output of Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Hebei will account for half of the country's grain output.
In terms of absolute yields, in 2023, Shanghai, Xinjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning will rank among the top four in the country, all above 7,000 kg/ha.
Soybean yields remain the focus of improvement
For many years, Heilongjiang Province has undertaken the heavy responsibility of grain production on the mainland. In 2023, the total grain output of Heilongjiang Province will be 155.764 billion catties, accounting for 11.2% of the country, the second highest in history, which is the province's grain output ranking first in the country for 14 consecutive years.
From 2016 to 2023, the output of grain crops in Heilongjiang Province increased from 148.076 billion jin to 155.764 billion jin, and the yield of rice, corn and soybean all increased, but the overall average yield decreased from 5300.50 kg/ha to 5282.61 kg/ha, compared with 7186.4 kg/ha in Jilin Province and 7163.5 kg/ha in Liaoning Province.
The reporter learned from the interview that the decrease in the proportion of total output and the average yield in Heilongjiang Province is mainly due to the structural adjustment and the increase in the soybean planting area with relatively low yield. In order to do a good job in stabilizing and increasing soybean production capacity, in 2022 and 2023, Heilongjiang Province will continue to expand the soybean sowing area and maintain the soybean sowing area at more than 70 million mu, but the soybean yield is only equivalent to about a quarter of that of corn.
Industry experts pointed out that compared with international soybean production, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the yield of soybeans in the mainland. According to the data released in 2022, the soybean yield in the mainland is 131.83 kg/mu, which is only 72.16% of the world, 59.38% of the United States, and 62.98% of Brazil.
In order to further promote the increase of soybean production in the province, the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs suggested expanding the pilot area of cultivated land rotation, and giving comprehensive subsidies to the plots in the province that meet the conditions of cultivated land rotation, so as to enhance farmers' enthusiasm for planting.
At present, many places are actively implementing policies to increase soybean production and provide policy support. For example, the Liaoning Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that it is necessary to continue to increase support for soybean production, implement producer subsidy funds, and the average subsidy standard for soybean per mu is not less than 350 yuan higher than that of corn. Implement funds for cultivated land rotation projects, focusing on supporting corn and other crops and soybean rotation. The implementation of corn and soybean yield improvement projects, the integration and promotion of precision control technology throughout the growth period, soybean increased by 20-50 kg.
The blocking points of the industrial chain need to be further opened
The reporter's investigation also found that in the process of grain production, many places are facing unfavorable factors such as land dispersion and seed industry chain needs to be improved.
Taking Heilongjiang Province as an example, through the transfer of peasant households' land and the trusteeship of contracted land, the cultivated land of each household has been concentrated, so that the degree of large-scale land management is leading in the country, but some rural planting cooperatives, large grain growers, family farms and other business entities are faced with the problem of land not being concentrated and contiguous, which affects the further release of grain production capacity.
Shan Yuheng, chairman of Zhaodong Xinboli Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative, said that due to the scattered land plots, when drones spray pesticides and foliar fertilizers, pesticides are often sprayed on other people's plots;
In addition, the seed industry chain also needs to be further optimized. "Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the China Seed Association did a survey across the country, and the common problem is that the land rent of high-quality seed production bases in Northwest China is rising, doubling in two years. This requires the introduction of policies at the national level to reduce costs for seed enterprises. Sun Jiuchao, director of the project office of Liaoning East Asia Seed Industry Co., Ltd., said.
According to the interviewed enterprises, in addition to the high cost of seed production and breeding, the definition of seed quality is still limited to the laboratory, and there is a lack of high-quality varieties that are screened and defined by natural production conditions. The seed industry urgently needs to open up the transmission chain from the laboratory to the land, and form an industrial chain covering scientific research, breeding, production and promotion, so as to further help increase grain production. (Reporter Ma Yueran, Xing Luxu, Wang Xiaolin, Li Yujia)
Editor: Wu Zhengsi
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