Chapter 41 2. Conquering Hunger: China's Battle of the Century

The country is based on the people, the people depend on food, and food depends on grain.As a country with 5,000 years of farming civilization, food issues have always been placed in a prominent position.After the founding of New China, the government of the Republic paid more attention to the development of grain production. Chairman Mao Zedong not only established the agricultural development policy of "taking grain as the key link", but also personally formulated a series of specific measures for the development of grain production, and mobilized the general public to build water conservancy projects. Improve the soil, which has greatly promoted China's food development.Regrettably, due to the influence of the extreme "left" line at that time, agricultural production was restrained and suppressed, so many policies and ideas for food development were not implemented and implemented, and the development of food production was slow.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the household contract responsibility system created spontaneously by farmers has been affirmed and supported by the central government. Farmers truly have the right to use, manage and benefit from the land, and their enthusiasm for production has been unprecedentedly high. Grain production has entered an unprecedented stage of development.After 20 years of hard work, China's grain production system has initially formed, mechanization and scientific farming have reached a certain level, and a stable annual production capacity of 400-500 million tons has basically been formed.

The most encouraging thing is that just when our country had bumper grain harvests and grain reserves reached an extremely high level for several consecutive years, the Party Central Committee specially held the Third Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee to study the current problems in agriculture and rural work. .The "Decision on Some Major Issues Concerning Agriculture and Rural Work" made at this meeting made it clear again: "Do not relax grain production, and actively develop diversified operations." Enthusiasm, to ensure that supply and prices are basically stable.” The meeting also made a decision to extend the land contract period for another 30 years, which reassured the majority of farmers.Subsequently, the central government held a rural work conference, again making specific arrangements for agricultural development and food production.The north and south of the river have once again set off an upsurge in agricultural production.

At the same time, the central government and local governments at all levels have also increased investment in agriculture. In 1998, the central government's agricultural support expenditure reached 6.235 billion yuan, an increase of 12% over the 1997 implementation figure.The central budget increased the grain risk fund by 3.7 billion yuan, and the local budget also made supporting arrangements, increasing expenditure by 5.55 billion yuan, ensuring the implementation of the open grain purchase policy and effectively protecting farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. In order to solve the problem of grain procurement affected by the lack of national grain storage over the years, in 1998 the state decided to increase 5 billion yuan for new storage facilities, and at the same time expand the scale of loans for simple warehouse building. At the beginning of June 1998, the State Council decided that the central government would allocate funds to build a 25 billion-kilo storage grain reserve directly under the central government before the summer harvest in 1999. Now, the construction of the 25 billion-kilo central grain storage storage is underway in an intense and orderly manner. The construction layout of the project has been completed, more than half of the projects have started construction, and funds have been allocated in place.Projects in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fujian, Guangdong, Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places have all started.

Drawing on the lessons of the catastrophic flood disaster in 1998, at the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, the country carried out the largest water conservancy construction in the past 20 years of reform and opening up.What is different from the past is that in the past, water conservancy construction was the responsibility of farmers, but this time the responsibility of government agencies has been strengthened.All beneficiary departments and enterprises have joined the ranks of water conservancy construction, either by investing in labor or investment, sharing interests and responsibilities, and improving our country's ability to resist natural disasters.At the same time as the construction of the levee, some areas have carried out supporting renovations on areas prone to drought and waterlogging.All these have laid a solid foundation for the development of food production.

At present, China has formed a relatively complete and systematic policy mechanism for the development of grain production: —— Strictly implement the two basic national policies of family planning and farmland protection, and start to establish a farmland protection system, especially in economically developed coastal areas; —— Build commodity grain Base, transformation of low-yield fields, the implementation of comprehensive agricultural development.Focus on the development of land reserve resources in the three major regions of Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Huanghuaihai. The number of commodity grain base counties has increased from the current 500 to more than 800; -- Strengthen water conservancy projects and farmland infrastructure construction, and expand the area for irrigation.In the near and mid-term, large-scale well-drilling projects will be implemented in the arid and semi-arid areas of the north; ——Implement the seed project, strive for breakthroughs in crop breeding, and strive to update major crop varieties once within 5 years; ——Implement agricultural science and education three In combination, establish an agricultural science and technology fund and give full play to the role of agricultural science and technology personnel.Promote water-saving, fertilizer-saving and other applicable technologies, and introduce a batch of foreign technologies; —— Improve domestic fertilizer supply capacity, focus on building and transforming the production capacity of a batch of chemical fertilizer factories, and reduce production costs at the same time, thereby lowering the supply price of chemical fertilizers; ——In accordance with the Agricultural Law, increase credit input and fiscal support for agriculture.

We have reasons to believe that with the Chinese government's emphasis on grain issues, China's grain production will further develop in the next century. For quite a long time, on the food issue, we focused on production and paid little attention to the reaction of circulation on production.In fact, circulation is not only the premise to ensure supply, but also the key to grain production.In the past, the "difficulty in selling grain" that repeatedly appeared in our country was a typical example of poor circulation.But in the past, we did not find the reason from the circulation. When "difficulty in selling" appeared, we adopted the method of suppressing production. Not only did the low price of grain hurt the farmers, but the enthusiasm of the farmers was dampened, and the grain production was also hit. It took a few years to recover. Come.Practice in the past 20 years has proved that without a reasonable and smooth grain circulation, it is impossible to have a stable increase in grain production.Therefore, the reform of the grain circulation system in 1998 not only stabilized the grain market, ensured grain supply, and increased the vitality of grain enterprises, but more importantly, it would also effectively promote grain production.

In this grain reform, the first policy is to openly purchase the surplus grain in the hands of farmers at a protective price. This is something that farmers never dared to think about in the past.In the past, when there was a shortage of food, tens of thousands of cadres went to the countryside, going from village to household, mobilizing farmers to sell "patriotic grain" and expanding production in the coming year. If you don't, you won't accept it, or if you don't accept it, you won't pay any money, and the matter will be dismissed with an IOU.If it is repeated many times, it will deeply hurt the hearts of farmers.Therefore, in recent times, farmers in many places have been unwilling to grow more grain except to grow enough for their own rations and the ordered grain that must be handed over, so as not to worry about having no way to sell grain in the future. This is also the case in China. An important reason why China's food commodity rate has not been high.This time the grain reform decided to open the policy of purchasing, so that the majority of farmers can really feel at ease, protect farmers' income from growing grain, and thus promote the stable growth of grain production.

According to the "Conditions for Grain Purchasing" promulgated by the State Council, the grain sold by farmers must be listed for purchase all year round, and it is not allowed to limit, reject, stop, or lower the price; for those that do not meet the purchase quality standards Grain can be deducted for water and miscellaneous goods according to the regulations, and the price can be judged according to the quality, but it cannot be rejected.And implement the policy of household settlement, except for agricultural tax, withholding and payment of any other taxes are not allowed.Implement the closed operation of purchase funds to ensure that grain purchases will not be illegal.In other words, the Chinese government guarantees that the grain grown by farmers will firstly be harvested locally, secondly, at a protective price, and thirdly, be settled in cash.Farmers said that this is the real consideration for farmers, and they will feel more at ease and more motivated to grow grain in the future.After the implementation of the policy of openly purchasing surplus grain from farmers at protective prices, many places have set off a climax of growing grain. Some farmers who went out to work have returned, and the abandoned cultivated land has been planted with grain again, and farmers' input has also increased significantly.

This food reform has once again strengthened the "rice bag" governor's responsibility system, and clearly stated that the "rice bag" governor's responsibility system includes not only food production, but also food circulation, and requires all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions to be responsible for the food balance in their regions .In the past, if there was no food, the central government would ask for it, and if there was too much food, it would be pushed to the central government. Now they have to bear their own responsibilities.After the implementation of the new policy, local governments have re-established their roles in grain work, and implemented specific policies and measures to develop grain production in order to ensure the stable growth of grain production.

It is obvious that this reform of the grain circulation system has removed obstacles, paved the way, and added impetus to China's grain production. Earlier we refuted Brown's predictions about China's food crisis one by one. However, we must also see that although Brown's conclusions are absurd, some of the problems he pointed out, such as overpopulation, reduction of arable land, Investment decline, etc., but it exists objectively.Therefore, if we do not pay attention to agriculture in an all-round way and re-understand the seriousness of the food problem, then the possibility of China's food problems does not exist.Japanese scholar Yukiyoshi Fujimura also believes that if China takes it lightly, then Brown's prediction may also become a reality. In this sense, Brown's pessimistic forecast on China's food problem is also conducive to increasing our understanding of the food problem.After several visits to China, Brown finally revised some of his views, that is, if China faces up to the food problem from now on, then the state of hunger in the next century may not appear.Brown believes: "A large population, scarce resources, and the conflict between technology and political philosophy in the 21st century will force China to take a new path." "Although this is a big problem, China is well prepared to deal with it. Well prepared. China has led the world in technological and industrial development for most of its history. It has now determined its own path. The country that invented paper and gunpowder is now likely to build a sustainable economy again Leading the West, if it succeeds, China may become an example to be envied and emulated by other countries in the world; if it fails, the whole world will pay the price." The reason why we believe that in the future China will not have the situation predicted by Brown that the Chinese cannot feed the Chinese is that China has a huge potential to develop food production.But potential does not equal reality. It is Brown's fault for failing to see China's potential for developing food production; and it is our fault for failing to turn the potential into reality.It can be seen that while criticizing Brown's "China's grain crisis theory", we should also consider how to grasp the various links of grain production and circulation to avoid the results predicted by Brown. This requires the whole society to pay attention to China's food issue, because it is a fundamental issue related to everyone's survival and life.Without sufficient food, it is difficult for us to survive, let alone develop.Due to the abundant supply of food, many people have a misconception that there is no problem with China's food, and as long as we have money, we can buy food.They didn't see the fact that China's national conditions with more people and less land and the fact that China's food supply and demand will be tense for a long time are either blindly optimistic or indifferent. The food crisis in 1994 took place under the domination of this kind of thinking. China's food problem is not only a problem that the Chinese government must consider, but also a problem that Chinese farmers must work hard to solve. It should also be a problem that all Chinese people care about.At present, the external environment of grain production and circulation is not ideal, one of the important reasons is that the food issue has not received enough attention from the whole society.Some departments only proceed from the interests of their own departments, and the phenomenon of illegal occupation and abuse of cultivated land is serious; some units occupy agricultural resources and deprive farmers of interests; Seeing the importance of fiscal and taxation, focusing on industrial enterprises, and relaxing food production; and the shocking food waste is almost everywhere... All of this needs to be resolved through our understanding of the food issue. re-acquainted and completely corrected. First of all, we must unswervingly adhere to the "dual foundation view".In social and economic life, eating is the number one issue.Food has always had an irreplaceable basic position and role in agriculture and the entire national economy. It is the source of maintaining the life, survival and life of the entire human being.Only after solving this problem can people engage in various other material and spiritual activities.Only after people's survival is stable can people's hearts be maintained and society stable.Therefore, when developing agriculture, industry, and commerce in the countryside in an all-round way, it is necessary to adhere to agriculture as the basis; when insisting on the simultaneous development of five industries such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline fishery, and the co-prosperity of various operations such as grain, oil, hemp, silk, and tea, food must be the main industry.That is to say, adhere to the "all-round development of agriculture as the foundation, and diversification of grain as the mainstay", which should become the basic policy for the development of agriculture and grain production in our country for a long time. Secondly, from the central government down to the township governments, they should earnestly establish the awareness of food-oriented, and support and promote food production from all aspects.And this kind of support and promotion should not just stay in words and documents, but should be real capital investment and technical investment.In the initial stage of the transition to a market economy, some people sang the high-profile "bringing agriculture and grain to the market and letting farmers learn to swim in the market ocean", which resulted in the 1994 grain price hike.This raises a sharp question for us, under the conditions of a market economy, do agriculture and food still need support and protection?The answer is yes.The obvious feature of the grain economy is that it contains various contradictions: the contradiction between the basic nature of food and its weak quality; the contradiction between public welfare and low efficiency; the contradiction between biology and risk, etc.Simply relying on market regulation to resolve these contradictions will not help, and may even aggravate the contradictions.Experience and economic development history at home and abroad show that the effective adoption of policies to support and protect grain can not only solve the problem that grain and agriculture are easily neglected and excluded under market economy conditions, but also help strengthen the power of stable grain growth. To support and protect food, it is urgent to start from the key weak links, and there are at least the following aspects that need the support of the whole society: First, the investment of funds.Although many people also know the slogans of "Food is the most important thing for the people" and "Agriculture is the foundation of the national economy", but when they are implemented in action, they say more and do less.At present, due to the influence of "large grain counties, small industrial counties, and financially poor counties", some local governments do not pay as much attention to food production as before, and their capital investment is obviously insufficient.In the next 30 years, my country will increase the total grain output by about 140 million tons, and increase the grain yield by 100 kilograms. Without certain investment, it is absolutely impossible to achieve.And as long as our goal fails, the contradiction between China's food supply and demand will intensify enough to affect the hunger of the Chinese people.This is what we have discussed repeatedly before. The second is investment in technology.Scientific research departments should accelerate the cultivation and promotion of fine varieties, increase investment in science and technology, and stabilize the agricultural scientific research team.As the country faces increasingly fierce competition for various investment demands, investment in agricultural scientific research should be guaranteed first.It is the most basic condition to maintain the actual investment in agricultural scientific research (after deducting the price increase factor) at an annual growth rate of 3.5%.In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the transformation and promotion of agricultural scientific and technological achievements.After comparison and screening, agronomists proposed 10 technologies that can greatly increase my country's grain production, including high-yield and high-quality comprehensive cultivation techniques for grain crops; fine grain varieties and hybrid combination technology; scientific fertilization technology; scientific grain storage, processing, and comprehensive development technology ; Grain crop cultivation techniques, etc.Once these scientific and technological measures involving technical engineering, bioengineering and biochemical engineering are popularized and mastered by farmers, they can achieve good results with less investment, quicker start-up and greater production increase.According to experts' calculations, if formula fertilization and chemical fertilizer deep application technologies are fully promoted, the ratio structure of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers will be adjusted from the current 1:0.3:0.3 to 1:0.5:0.2; water-saving irrigation technologies will be promoted to increase the water utilization rate from 40 % increased to 45%; the replacement of fine varieties and new hybrid combinations reached 70% of the total grain area; the promotion of integrated pest control technology, model cultivation technology and grain production mechanization level will increase grain yield by 20-50%.To achieve this goal, all sectors of society must cooperate and work together. The third is material input.Although most of the agricultural material production enterprises are invested and established by the state, under the current market economy conditions, many enterprises have changed the purpose of supporting and promoting agriculture in the past, and some have turned to produce other products with faster results and higher profits. Although some continue to produce agricultural means of production, the price is out of control and the quality is not satisfactory, all of which are extremely unfavorable to the development of food production.Providing farmers with affordable and high-quality agricultural production materials is an indirect means for many countries to support agriculture, and my country is no exception.This requires us to continue to strengthen the awareness of agriculture-related enterprises, and the state will reduce the price of agricultural production materials through measures such as tax cuts and fee reductions, so as to reduce the production cost of grain and increase the income level of grain.This is an important measure to stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain under the current circumstances that it is impossible to substantially increase grain prices. Generally speaking, food is something we cannot live without even a day. Every Chinese must pay attention to the issue of food that sustains our survival, life and life, and make due contributions to China's food development.