Chapter 23 Zhou Enlai and my country's Grain Work

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the beloved Premier Zhou Enlai.Recalling Premier Zhou’s teachings on the food issue that is related to the national economy and the people’s livelihood during his lifetime, especially thinking of the three years of temporary economic difficulties and the ten years of turmoil. The scene of successfully overcoming difficulties twice and going to victory makes it difficult to calm down. We will never forget the Prime Minister's concern and guidance for food work and his meticulous work style. After the founding of New China, after three years of recovery of the national economy, in 1953 entered a period of large-scale socialist construction.Our country has little arable land, a large population, and an agricultural economy, and the level of agricultural production is very low. At the end of 1952, based on the national population, the average grain possession per person was only 288 kg.With the development of the country's economic construction and the increase of urban population, the demand for commodity grain in all aspects of society has increased sharply.However, due to the improvement of farmers' lives, the commodity grain they can provide has decreased, and the contradiction between supply and demand of grain has become increasingly acute.Comrade Chen Yun, after repeated consideration and extensive solicitation of opinions from all sides, proposed to implement the policy of unified purchase and marketing of planned purchase and planned supply of grain.This suggestion was supported and praised by Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Zhou Enlai. In November 1953, the Government Affairs Council issued the "Order on Implementing Planned Purchase and Supply of Grain", which was revised and finalized by Premier Zhou himself. At the first plenary session of the first National People's Congress in September 1954, Premier Zhou Enlai talked about the necessity and decision-making process of implementing unified purchase and marketing in his government work report, and Vice Premier Chen Yun also made a special speech.This was a correct policy adapted to the situation of our country at that time, and it achieved very good results during the first five-year plan period.

In 1958, the "Great Leap Forward" and "People's Commune" movements were launched on the land of China.Under the influence of "Left" ideology, high targets, blind command, exaggerated style and communist style are seriously rampant.Coupled with the impact of natural disasters, my country's national economy was in a difficult period from 1959 to 1961, with a sharp drop in grain production and a sharp reduction in national grain stocks. The food situation was very tense.In this extremely difficult period, Premier Zhou Enlai coordinated the overall situation of the country's grain, made decisive decisions, personally grasped the allocation of each difficult province, city, and autonomous region, and ensured the emergency needs of all aspects, so that our country and people are relatively smooth. overcame difficulties.

In 1958, a prominent contradiction in the grain work was that the grain production was falsely reported step by step, and the production was overestimated, so that the upper and lower bases were unclear and the situation was unclear.Overestimation of production results in high requisition. At the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held in Beidaihe in 1958, it was officially announced that the grain output of the year would reach 600-700 billion catties, an increase of 60%-90% over the previous year.By the end of the year, the estimated grain output of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government has been exaggerated to 850 billion catties.The national average food possession per person is about 1,300 catties, which creates the illusion that my country's food has passed the customs. In 1959, under the influence of exaggeration, the grain output was reported to reach one trillion catties.At that time, Premier Zhou clearly pointed out that the output was not so much, and there were imaginary numbers.Later, the actual grain output in 1959 was only over 330 billion catties, only one-third of the original estimate.Under the influence of overestimation of production, from 1959 to 1961, the three-year average grain procurement accounted for 35.3% of the production, of which it reached 39.7% in 1959 (generally more than 20% in normal years), which exceeded the ability of farmers to afford, seriously It dampens the enthusiasm of farmers to produce food.

In the autumn of 1960, the country's grain production figures for the year were temporarily unclear, and some people who let go of the "satellites" refused to admit that there was less food, and there were divergent opinions for a while.The Ministry of Grain estimates that the total national grain output is only over 280 billion catties (the actual figure at the end of the year was 287 billion catties), and the problem of food shortage is very serious.After careful research, the leading party group of the Ministry of Food reported the truth to Premier Zhou.He made it clear that everyone can talk about the situation of agricultural production, but the national grain revenue and expenditure plan must be arranged according to the figures of the grain sector.The Prime Minister also invited the leaders of the northern provinces and grassroots cadres of some counties and communes to the Great Hall of the People for an emergency meeting to listen carefully to their opinions and understand the actual situation in the countryside.At the meeting, Premier Zhou and other leading comrades of the Central Committee put forward a series of specific measures to mobilize the whole party, develop production, control consumption, lower standards, replace vegetables and vegetables, and work hard to overcome temporary difficulties.Premier Zhou also instructed that a meeting of directors of the Northern Food Department should be held once a month, and the comrades in charge of the central government in charge of agriculture should listen to the report, make arrangements in person, and make careful arrangements.After the meeting, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an instruction for the whole party to work hard on agriculture and grain.In order to verify grain production and reasonably arrange grain purchase, sales, and adjustment indicators, the Prime Minister agreed and supported the method proposed by the Ministry of Grain to carry out weighing and warehousing of grain for rural production teams across the country.Through the gradual verification of the output in 1960, everyone's minds are relatively clear. After 1961, the production estimates were closer to the reality, and there was room for it, which played an important role in rationally arranging grain purchases and sales and adjusting policies.

During the "Great Leap Forward", the "communist wind" was blown, and the rural people's communes set up public canteens, allowing farmers to eat big pot meals in the canteens, which aggravated the contradiction of rural food shortages. In the spring of 1960, Comrade Tong Xiaopeng, the director of the Prime Minister’s Office, returned to his hometown in Changting, Fujian. He saw the prevailing trend of telling lies at that time. In name, he promised to eat 30 catties of rice per person per month (21 catties of rice), but in fact he did not do so. It turns out that there is no rice in the big dining hall, and most of the food is boiled vegetables.Comrade Tong Xiaopeng reported what he learned to Premier Zhou. Premier Zhou attached great importance to it and pointed out: This is a matter of human life and nature.And asked Tong to write a letter to the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, which attracted the attention of the Provincial Party Committee.Afterwards, Zhou Enlai and other leading comrades of the central government went to the villages to investigate in person one after another, reporting to the Party Central Committee that commune members generally disapproved of running public canteens, and that the "supply system" did a lot of harm.After the summer harvest in 1961, according to the demands of the general public, rural public canteens were generally disbanded across the country, rations were distributed to households, and members of the commune happily went home to cook and eat.

In 1959, domestic food shortages had begun to emerge.In the spring of this year, when the foreign trade import and export plan was discussed in the State Council conference hall, before the official meeting, Comrade Zhao Fafa and the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade Comrade Lei Renmin were studying how much grain to export, and the two had a heated argument.The Prime Minister asked as soon as he entered the door, what are you talking about?Comrade Zhao Fafa said that we think the amount of exported grain listed in the foreign trade table is too much.The Prime Minister immediately said that there is no need to argue, let's settle it!In order to repay the debts of the Soviet Union and maintain the country's reputation, I have some difficulties, so I have to find another way to overcome it.In order to maintain the aspirations of the Chinese people, during the difficult three years, Premier Zhou led us to save money and repay the debts of the Soviet Union on schedule.

At the end of 1960, the food shortage intensified, and it was estimated that the food situation would become even more serious in the next year when the spring was not harvested. The Premier and other leading comrades of the State Council repeatedly studied solutions.Comrade Chen Yun proposed to squeeze out part of the foreign exchange to import grain.Eating imported food was a forbidden area at the time!The Prime Minister who took the overall situation weighed the pros and cons and resolutely decided to import grain.Under the personal supervision of the Prime Minister, the first shipment of grain imported from Australia arrived in Tianjin Port in less than two months. In March 1961, the Guangzhou meeting held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to increase grain imports. From 1961 to 1965, about 5 million tons of grain were imported every year.Although this accounts for a small proportion of my country's grain output, it has played a major role in the country's grain scheduling: it can not only reduce the transfer of grain-producing areas, but also ensure the grain supply in the hardest-hit areas, avoiding Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Liao's grain was in danger of being out of stock, and some national stocks were also replenished.

In 1961, the Prime Minister went to the Northeast on a business trip. Seeing the food shortage in the Northeast, he proposed to negotiate with the Soviet Union, borrowing 200,000 tons of grain from the Far East, and then returning it from imported grain.In doing so, the food plight in Northeast China was alleviated in time.Sichuan Province was originally a grain-exporting province. In 1958, a large-scale iron and steel smelting was carried out, employing 5 million people. The output decreased, and some grain was transferred out, causing food shortages.After the Prime Minister learned about this situation, he immediately instructed: Stop transferring food from outside, and let the province adjust itself. At the beginning of 1962, Sichuan's food was in short supply. After the Prime Minister learned of this situation, he felt sad, and he immediately offered to support Sichuan.The Prime Minister brought Comrades Li Xiannian, Chen Guodong and Yang Shaoqiao to his office and asked everyone to settle accounts.After calculation, the Prime Minister decided to transfer 250 million catties of grain to Sichuan in the second quarter of that year, so that they could get through the spring famine smoothly.

In order to arrange the food problems of the people of the whole country, Premier Zhou worked hard day and night.From June 1960 to September 1962, in two years and four months, Premier Zhou made 115 talks on food issues.The Prime Minister was very concerned about the food situation, and read the food reports in a timely manner. He personally reviewed the food planning tables one by one, and carefully calculated the food arrangements.Among the 32 statements that were returned from the Prime Minister's Office to the General Office of the Ministry of Food, there are as many as 994 places in the Prime Minister's handwriting.For example, on the table "Estimation of Grain Production Package and Purchase from 1919 to 1963", Premier Zhou marked 145 places with red and blue pencils, adjusted and revised 40 places, calculated 6 places on the side of the form, and annotated the numbers There are 70 places and 7 places with annotations. The whole form is densely packed with the prime minister's handwriting.These reports are now regarded as precious historical relics and are properly preserved by relevant departments. They vividly record the hard work that the Prime Minister has put in to solve the food problem of the people of the whole country in difficult times!

During the three-year period of temporary economic difficulties, in order to tide over the food difficulties and arrange food allocations in various places, three "lines of defense" are usually put in place: first, the Minister of Food negotiates with the localities; then the Secretary of the Central Committee in charge of finance and trade, and the Vice Premier of the State Council come forward Discuss; finally, the Premier of the State Council is invited to finalize the case in person. After 1959, not only the annual grain allocation plan was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, but also the quarterly allocation plan was arranged and issued by the Party Central Committee; by 1960, many monthly allocation plans were also notified by the Party Central Committee to party committees at all levels for implementation.Regarding the implementation of the grain allocation plan, Chen Guodong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Grain, and Comrades Yang Shaoqiao and Zhao Fafa, who successively took charge of the allocation work, often reported verbally to the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and at the same time submitted a grain allocation situation statement every sentence (sometimes every five days).In 1961, in addition to the increase in imported grain, some special grains included in the central expenditure were added to the grain allocated by the central government. There were so many clues that the original grain report was no longer applicable.At that time, Premier Zhou personally designed a "Central Grain Allocation Plan", from which the inter-provincial allocation and the central grain revenue and expenditure can be clearly reflected.Up to now, this form is still used to arrange the central grain revenue and expenditure allocation plan and check the implementation.

In order to study the food issue, Comrade Chen Guodong, who was then secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Grain, went to the Prime Minister several times a week, usually at night, sometimes from 90 o'clock in the evening or 11 o'clock in the middle of the night to the early morning of the next day. Three or four o'clock, sometimes two or three o'clock in the morning.At that time, when I reported to the Prime Minister, I was generally not allowed to bring assistants, and sometimes I could only go to a deputy minister.Comrade Yang Shaoqiao once went with Comrade Chen Guodong to report the food situation to Premier Zhou. The Premier asked Yang Shaoqiao to make a calculation.How many sales per month?How much can the summer grain increase?How much can be called out?Where is the grain stored?Whether the transportation is convenient or not, and so on.Our prime minister is actually the commander-in-chief of food dispatch. In order to ensure the minimum supply of rations for the urban population, the central government decided in 1960 that, except for workers working underground, at high temperatures, at high altitudes, and with heavy physical labor, the ration of food for each urban population would be reduced by a little.For urban unified sales, except for the food on trains, ships, and planes, which are still free of charge, the urban catering industry, pastries and other grain products are supplied by food tickets.At that time, there were only a few high-end restaurants in Beijing that sold and served foreigners at high prices without collecting food coupons. In 1961, the food situation was even more difficult. In order to reduce food sales, it was conceived to print a special food ticket for passengers on trains, ships, and planes, and supply it by ticket, which could save 75 million catties of food.Regarding this plan, Premier Zhou thought over it repeatedly and believed that although the country had difficulties, it should not increase the troubles of passengers.Moreover, there are many foreign guests and overseas Chinese on trains, ships, and planes, and the supply is provided by ticket. The number is not large, and the impact is not good.Later, the State Council meeting decided to deny this plan. The Prime Minister is very concerned about the living conditions of workers and intellectuals.When the food shortage eased slightly, he immediately proposed to start with coal miners, and to provide food subsidies to heavy manual laborers such as high altitude, high temperature, underground, and underwater. Subsidize a small amount of meat, eggs and soybeans respectively to ensure their necessary nutrition and living needs.Our Premier Zhou cared about the people, loved the people, and did everything in every possible way. Premier Zhou's correct and decisive decision-making on food work is inseparable from his in-depth and meticulous work style.When you go to the prime minister for a meeting, you are not allowed to bring assistants, and you are not allowed to use vague concepts such as "maybe" and "probably".If you pretend to understand what you don't know, you will be severely criticized by the Prime Minister.Premier Zhou is well-informed and good at remembering, and he has many specific situations and information figures.He asked us to tell the truth and do practical things.Once, the Prime Minister asked Comrades Li Xiannian, Chen Guodong, and Yang Shaoqiao to discuss the grain allocation plan. When it came to 11 o'clock in the evening, he said, you should go back and rest first.After speaking, the Prime Minister was busy with other government affairs.When Zhou Boping, director of the Department of Planning, delivered the material to the prime minister's office in the early morning of the next day, the prime minister was still working at his desk.Regardless of working all night, he carefully reviewed this material, and even discussed every note with Comrade Zhou Boping before agreeing to print and distribute it. When the Central Work Conference was held in Guangzhou in 1961, once, the Premier and us studied the grain allocation arrangements in different provinces, compiled the tables, and added up the figures. It was found that there was a difference of 50 million catties that could not be balanced, and the reason could not be found for a while.The Prime Minister put on reading glasses, checked the form, province by province, and calculated sum by sum. After a while, the Prime Minister asked; No?" It turns out that the problem lies here, because we forgot to remember.Immediately, after adding this amount, after calculating the balance, he breathed a sigh of relief.The Prime Minister is conscientious in his work, meticulous in his work, treats everyone equally, and is amiable, which left a deep impression on us. Regarding the grain work, the Prime Minister not only strengthened management and decision-making from a macro perspective, but also paid great attention to the reform of the grain work system.The current grain year implemented by the grain department was set by the Prime Minister himself in 1962.The grain year at that time was from July 1 to the end of June next year, and the summer harvest wheat began to be stored in June, which happened to span two grain years.The Prime Minister said that this method is unreasonable and should be changed. It is a principle that the grain produced in that year should be available in the same year.After repeated research, the grain year was changed from April 1 to the end of March of the following year.In this way, the latest crops in the north have been harvested and put into storage, and the earliest grain in the south has not yet been harvested, so the grain produced in that year can be used in that year.Although this is a specific issue, it involves a wide range of areas, and the statistical concepts and figures of the provinces in the past have to be revised.After Premier Zhou reported the matter to Chairman Mao and obtained his consent, he personally announced it at the Central Working Conference.There are still many tasks related to grain transportation, and Premier Zhou also personally intervened. In 1961, the whole country encountered many difficulties in the process of grain adjustment due to insufficient transportation capacity.After the matter was reported to Premier Zhou, the Premier greeted the foreign trade department and quickly imported more than 1,200 vehicles to the Ministry of Grain for use.Since then, the grain department has set up a car corps, which has greatly increased the central mobile grain transportation force and played an important role in the grain supply. During the three-year difficult period, Premier Zhou set an example and tided over the difficulties with the people of the whole country.Comrade Chen Guodong went to the State Council for a meeting, and the meeting couldn't be finished until the meal time. He often ate with the Premier.Once, the Prime Minister discussed the food issue with Li Xiannian, Chen Guodong, and Yang Shaoqiao at his home. At noon, Sister Deng entertained them for dinner. There were four dishes and one soup, and the plates were not big. In 1962, Hebei Province reported that the proportion of dry sweet potatoes in their rations was too large.Premier Zhou decided to transfer the dried potatoes to Beijing and supply them appropriately. He took the lead in eating dried potatoes at home, and let the cadres who came to the meeting from all over the country also taste the taste of dried potatoes. In the winter of 1965, Premier Zhou personally took charge of agricultural production in the northern grain-deficit provinces.According to the guidelines set by the central government, the prime minister and other leading comrades of the central government decided to set up leading groups for agricultural production in various provinces and cities, and organize relevant central departments and leading comrades of various provinces and cities to jointly conduct investigations and studies to understand the production situation and solve problems in a timely manner, so as to promote agricultural production development of.Premier Zhou personally served as the head of the Beijing Leading Group, Comrade Tan Zhenlin served as the head of the Shanxi Leading Group, the Hebei group was headed by Comrade Liao Luji, and the Henan group was headed by Comrade Chen Zhengren.Under the personal auspices of the Prime Minister, many investigations and studies were conducted on the situation and existing problems of agricultural production in Beijing, and solutions were formulated.The Premier also personally convened and presided over the meeting, which was attended by relevant leading comrades from the Central Committee, Li Xiannian, Tan Zhenlin, Bo Yibo, etc., responsible comrades from leading groups of various provinces and cities, and responsible comrades from relevant central departments to jointly study the situation and problems of each province and each group , and timely determine the solutions to these problems.This work, the Prime Minister has been grasping the spring of 1966. The turmoil of the "Cultural Revolution" that began in 1966 lasted for 10 years, and the national economy fell into chaos again.During this period, the food work was seriously affected.Our Prime Minister Zhou stood on the front line of the battle, in charge of all-round work, supporting the crisis, and minimizing the damage caused by the "Cultural Revolution" to our country's economy. In early June 1966, after the "Cultural Revolution" began, it was the season of summer harvest, summer planting, and summer management.The Premier, Li Xiannian, Tan Zhenlin, and the leading comrades in Beijing decided to select a deputy minister and 30 cadres from each of the ministries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Finance and Trade of the State Council to form the "Three Summers" task force and send them to the various departments in Beijing. The county went to catch Sanxia's work. In January 1967, during the "power seizure" turmoil that swept across the country, the domestic political situation was very chaotic.In response to this situation, every time the Prime Minister met with representatives of mass organizations, he would always say that business power belongs to the central government and cannot be taken away.The Prime Minister talked about it from February to April. With the care and persistence of the Prime Minister, although we were criticized during the day, we still focused on business when we came back at night, and kept the main business work uninterrupted.By August, military representatives were stationed in various ministries of the State Council to take charge of overall work, while veteran cadres stood aside.The Prime Minister instructed that the military representatives should focus on sports and designate a minister to handle business; special personnel should be drawn out to set up a business team to ensure the normal operation of the work without interruption; at the same time, each ministry should also set up a duty room, which is on duty day and night, so that the situation can be assigned without delay Work.Li Xiannian, the vice-premier in charge of finance and economics at the time, also conveyed to us the Prime Minister’s opinion, “Comrade Zhao Fafa is required to focus on business.” With the instruction and support of the Prime Minister, the grain departments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government established teams to focus on business.The Ministry of Food has also organized a small team of more than 20 people to handle daily business work and ensure that the tasks assigned by the leaders are completed on time. During the "power seizure" turmoil, Premier Zhou was very worried about problems in food work. In May 1967, Comrade Zhou Enlai personally received all representatives of the Summer Grain and Oil Purchase Conference of 14 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.Among the representatives were leading cadres from the food department and representatives from mass organizations.In addition to inquiring in detail about the completion of the previous year's grain procurement tasks in various places and the year of the summer grain year, he also earnestly warned the representatives of the mass organization of the grain department that you have become the power, and you should not be proud, otherwise you will go to the opposite side.Comrade Zhou Enlai also made serious and thought-provoking criticisms on the problem that some people at that time criticized some correct grain policies, policies, regulations, and systems as bourgeois reactionary lines or revisionist things.He said: Whether it is the revolutionary line or the bourgeois reactionary line, the watershed should be analyzed from the situation and the essence of the policy. Don't look at it from one thing, and you can't simplify the problem; bourgeois reactionary line.Comrade Zhou Enlai also pointed out that it is impossible to say that it is a bourgeois reactionary line based on one sentence; it is necessary to clarify the situation at that time, analyze it, and not draw conclusions lightly.It is necessary to seriously study the financial policies of 2017 in a complete and systematic way, and not to treat a specific policy in isolation.He also pointed out that some people criticized the incentive sales policy as a material stimulus and proposed to cancel this policy. He said: the past incentive sales policy is necessary, and it must be gradually changed in the future. Overproduction and overpurchase can be reduced. The number of sales can be less and gradually reduced. Canceling it all at once will break the trust of the people.He also asked the leading cadres of the food department attending the meeting: to seek truth from facts, clarify the problem, and explain it with a helpful attitude. In the first few years of the "Cultural Revolution", whenever the grain purchase season.Under the arrangement of Zhou Enlai, Li Xiannian and other comrades, the Finance and Trade Office of the State Council organized relevant departments and dispatched several grain working groups to go deep into key areas, understand the situation, and help the grain departments to carry out normal business activities, so as to ensure that the task of grain procurement and storage was completed as planned .Under the influence of the Prime Minister, the leading comrades of the provinces, cities, and districts have also dared to grasp and manage the food work.Comrade Zhou Enlai's tireless work on grain was the mainstay of stabilizing the grain situation at that time, and inspired the unremitting enthusiasm of the vast number of grain cadres and grassroots workers. During the "Cultural Revolution", when food was in short supply and the country's foreign exchange was not abundant, the Prime Minister proposed the practice of "feeding in with output" in food import and export. In October 1967, when Premier Zhou met with the representatives of the National Grain Conference and the National Agricultural Machinery Work Conference in August 1969, he said that through import and export, grain varieties can be adjusted, reserves can be increased, and good rice and soybeans can be exported. Switch back to double wheat.The food and foreign trade departments worked together to implement the Prime Minister's instruction of "growing in from the output", which resulted in more food and foreign exchange, killing two birds with one stone. From 1971 to 1976, the balance of imports and exports resulted in an increase of 18.733 billion catties of grain in the country and an increase of US$727 million in foreign exchange income for the country.During the ten-year turmoil, many business meetings could not be held, but the national food conference was held every year as usual, and the annual food plan and policy were discussed in the meeting and timely arrangements were made.During the ten years of turmoil, my country's food situation has remained basically stable, relying on Premier Zhou's strong leadership and careful planning. At the beginning of 1972, the number of employees nationwide exceeded 50 million, wage expenditure exceeded 30 billion yuan, and grain sales exceeded 80 billion catties.In November of the same year, the Prime Minister sounded the alarm at the National Grain Conference last week, first pointing out that the "three breakthroughs" would have a very adverse impact on the national economy.At the same time, in view of the rapid growth of the non-agricultural population, the Prime Minister instructed the public security department to participate in the food conference and study joint checks to control the growth of the urban population.Under the personal intervention of the Prime Minister, the growth rate of the number of employees, wages, non-agricultural population, and grain sales all slowed down significantly in the next few years. During the ten-year turmoil, there was a tendency in many places to one-sidedly emphasize grain and neglect cash crops, and the production of cotton, oil, and sugar all showed a downward trend. In 1970, the State Council held the National Cotton Production Conference. At the meeting, the Premier said that we should promote a double harvest of grain and cotton and ensure that the rations of cotton farmers were not lower than those of neighboring grain-producing areas.In those few years, in order to develop cotton production, the Prime Minister decided to send a cotton working group every year in the name of the State Council to help in the main cotton-producing areas, from sowing to purchasing. The Prime Minister also attaches great importance to the development of oil production. In October 1970, the State Council convened the Northern Agricultural Conference, and invited comrades in charge of 12 key oil-bearing provinces, including Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, and Jiangsu, to discuss issues in oil production and distribution. In March 1971 and at the end of 1974, cotton, oil, sugar and cotton, oil, sugar, tobacco, and hemp production conferences were held respectively, and the production of cash crops was fully deployed.At the two meetings, Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Li Xiannian gave many important instructions on oil production when they received the representatives of the meeting.The Prime Minister said that oil production areas should make more contributions, and general production areas should be self-sufficient in edible oil, and the problem of oil consumption should be solved in a short period of time.There are many varieties of oilseeds, and all provinces must advance in this area. There are many mountainous areas in the south, and woody oilseeds do not compete with grain, so they can be developed more.At the Cotton Oil Candy Tobacco Conference in 1974, the Prime Minister asked about the trial planting and development of olives. Because we didn’t catch them at ordinary times, we couldn’t answer immediately. We even contacted the relevant provinces by phone at night to ask about the situation. Early in the morning we reported what we had learned to the Prime Minister.He listened with satisfaction. The Prime Minister often urges us to implement Chairman Mao Zedong's instructions of storing food and wealth for the people.Just after three years of difficulties, it was proposed in 1963 that collective grain reserves should be established in rural areas.The State Council decided to include the national grain reserves in the annual grain revenue and expenditure plan.Since then, the national and collective grain reserves have increased year by year.It was also decided that the state would basically keep the grain reserves on behalf of the production team free of charge, which established a new line of defense for the national grain reserves. In the early morning of November 8, 1968, after receiving Chairman Mao’s instructions on the management of commerce by the poor and lower-middle peasants in Anjiapu, the Premier personally called Comrade Xiannian, and asked Comrade Xiannian to inform the relevant departments of commerce, supply and marketing, and grain. Go to the Prime Minister's Office to research this issue.The Prime Minister said: Food can be distributed to farmers for management.He mentioned that during the most tense period of the three-year liberation war in northern Shaanxi, he was relieved to see three jars of grain and one jar of sauerkraut in farmers' homes, otherwise how could he have fought for three and a half years.At the Grain Work Reform Conference held by the Ministry of Grain in 1969, Comrade Zhao Fafa conveyed and implemented the Prime Minister’s five-point instructions on grain work, emphasizing that each commune should increase grain production, increase reserves, and store grain for the people.After the discussion, a summary was compiled and submitted to the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister changed a word and punctuated each sentence to express his agreement. my country's population growth is directly related to food issues.Before the "Cultural Revolution", the Premier in the 1950s attached great importance to family planning work.It has been very effective in large and medium-sized cities and some provinces and autonomous regions. After the "Cultural Revolution" began, the family planning work was disturbed, and the natural population growth rate generally rebounded.In those years, the natural growth rate of the population rose at a rate of 26.7 per thousand. In 1972, the Prime Minister once again instructed to do a good job in the family planning work. On July 16, 1973, the State Council established a family planning leading group, which worked under the direct leadership of the Premier. By 1976, the natural population growth rate had dropped from 22 per thousand in 1972 to 12 per thousand. Great grades. Dear Premier Zhou has been away from us for 12 years. Whenever I look back at the scene of him personally catching food and forgetting to eat and sleep, working day and night, I am moved to tears.Our comrades engaged in food work must inherit the last wish of the Prime Minister, do a good job in food work conscientiously, and work hard to realize the four modernizations of socialism in our country.