March 6, 2014
China to boost food security
In a bid to boost food security, China plans to broaden the scope and increase spending on agricultural subsidies for grains and other commodities.
Among China''s top priorities this year are maintaining food security and environmental protection, as rapid urbanisation threatens to swallow up arable farmlands and pollution chokes swathes of the country.
"Problems hindering steady agricultural development are prominent. Resource and environmental constraints have tightened; infrastructure for irrigation and water conservancy is still weak ... and agricultural production is not profitable," the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in its 2014 work report.
The NDRC said it will lift funds for agricultural subsidies, and devote more to the production of grainand other important agricultural products, new agricultural businesses, and major agricultural regions that produce grain, rapeseed or hogs. Support will also be provided for beef and mutton production.
Beijing said China''s cultivated land must not fall below a red line of 120 million hectares and plans to raise China''s grain production capacity by 50 million tonnes. It also intends to build up regional and large-scale commercial grain production centres. China produced 602 million tonnes of grain last year.
The NDRC said it will continue to implement annual stockpiling programmes for corn, rapeseed and sugar. The government has already said it would end stockpiling for cotton and soy in 2014.
Beijing is providing subsidies and investing in rural infrastructure in order to encourage farmers to stay on the land, but top researchers have said that the world''s most populous nation will need to become less fixated on self-sufficiency targets and use overseas markets more.