China to stick to policy of food self-sufficiency
Print Edition
China will stick with policies to maintain food self-sufficiency and protect farmland from urban encroachment while pledging to deepen its reforms in rural areas.
A meeting of the Party attended by President Xi Jinping said China will continue to ensure that at least 120 million hectares of rural land would be reserved for agricultural use, a policy known as the “red line.”
Prominent researchers and economists had called on the government to abandon the “red line” and have also said it should relax its long-standing self-sufficiency target of 95 percent and make better use of global markets. While the report did not mention the 95 percent figure, it said self-supply would remain the key to China’s efforts to “seize the initiative on food security.”
“When defining a moderately prosperous society, the key is to observe the condition of farmers,” a statement said.
It noted that agriculture is still the weakest among the four pursuits of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization.
“If China wants to be strong, agriculture must be strong. If China wants to be beautiful, the countryside must be beautiful. If China wants to get rich, the farmers must get rich,” the statement said.
Tackling problems in the countryside should be at the core of the central authorities’ work, the statement said.
Populous as China is, the task of simply feeding the people remains a high priority, it said.
“The bowls of the Chinese, in any situation, must rest soundly in our own hands. Our bowls should be filled mainly with Chinese grain. Only when a country is basically self-sufficient in food, can it take the initiative in food security and grasp the overall situation for economic and social growth.”
Beijing has identified food security as one of its biggest challenges over the next decade, with its population still rising and vast tracts of its farmland already swallowed up as a result of rapid urban and industrial growth.
With millions of additional farmers set to desert the countryside for the cities in the coming years, China encourages farmers to stay put.
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