Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong and MOA Chief Economist and Spokesman Bi Meijia gave a press conference on agricultural and rural development at the news center for the 'Two Sessions' (the National People's Congress or NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or CPPCC) in Beijing on March 6, 2015.
Question 1: How about China's food security situation?
Response: The national grain production capacity maintains a relatively high level.
Yu stated that the current food security situation in China is optimistic on the whole. In 2014 China achieved 11 consecutive years of bumper grain harvests and registered several new records: firstly, the total grain output reached a new high of 607.1 billion kg; secondly, the grain yield hit a new record of 359 kg; and thirdly, per capita food availability soared to an all-time high of almost 450 kg. The grain output exceeded 500 billion kg for 8 years consecutively. All these facts indicated that China's grain production capacity has maintained a relatively high level.
When answering the question of why grain imports still increased with a bumper harvest, Yu noted that these years the grain imports have been on the increase and reached a record high of about 100 million tons last year. However, of the total imports, over 70% was soybean, and the imports of cereals only accounted for 3.2 percent of the year's total grain output. The imports of maize and wheat fell last year, and only rice and some grains used for industrial purposes climbed. It is becoming increasingly clear that domestic demand gets more diversified, and the demand for grains of industrial and other uses is on the rise.
Question 2: How should China secure agro-product quality and safety?
Response: Our attitude is zero-tolerance for problems in this regard.
Vice Minister Yu said that agro-product quality and safety in China are reliable on the whole, and the consumer safety is guaranteed. Yu noted that the Party and the government have always attached great importance to agro-product quality and safety. According to the results of random inspection by MOA in recent years, the pass rates of vegetables, animal, poultry and fishery products have maintained at above 96% and shown a rising trend.
Yu noted that MOA welcomes public supervision over agro-product quality and safety. The Ministry will also intensify local responsibility system and upgrade the monitoring capacity so as to provide consumers with safe agro-products.
Question 3: How should China deal with environmental pollution caused by pesticides and fertilizers?
Response: The transformation of agricultural growth patterns can be a solution.
Referring to agricultural nonpoint source pollution, Yu pointed out that some important agricultural resources like water and land have been indeed overburdened. So China must make agricultural modernization a priority on its agenda, including transforming the development patterns and adjusting the structure of agriculture.
Yu stated that the purpose is to shift extensive farming to balanced growth of agricultural output, quality and profits, as well as integration of intensive production, resource conservation and innovation. It is believed that China will be able to blaze a new way to modern agriculture with its own characteristics, which is efficient, resource-saving, safe and environment-friendly.
Question 4: What about the expectations for farmer's income growth?
Response: We will continue the efforts to ensure farmer's income growth.
In 2014 the per capita net income of farmers reached 9,892 yuan, a rapid growth for the 11th consecutive year. The growth rate outpaced that of per capita disposable income of urban residents for 5 consecutive years.
Vice Minister Yu said that the following four factors contributed to farmer's income increase: firstly, the development of urbanization increased farmer's wage income; secondly, the price of agro-products remained stable in general, ensuring constant growth of farmer's income; thirdly, national policies to support agriculture and benefit farmers were well implemented; and fourthly, the reform on rural collective property rights regime promoted large-scale agricultural management, and facilitated farmer's property income growth.
Yu stated that farmer's income will maintain an increasing momentum and China will continue the following measures: firstly, we will intensify the support for agriculture; secondly, we will deepen the reform on agro-product price system and implement appropriate policies on minimum purchase price and temporary purchase and storage, to keep food market stable; thirdly, integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas will enhance the vitality of rural economy; and fourthly, the "precisely-targeted' poverty reduction programs, mainly focusing on concentrated poverty-stricken areas, will help local farmers to lead a well-off life like people in other areas of the country.
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