- 来源：farmers’ daily
- 编辑：姚雯祎
- 作者：yang mengfan，farmers’ daily
this autumn harvest was a joyous occasion for li xiaodong, a grain farmer who manages 800 mu (around 53 hectares) of soybean and corn zonal compound planting farmland in duqu town, linying county, luohe city, henan province. not only did the corn yield remain stable, but there was an increase of over a hundred kilograms of soybean output, and an income increase of more than 400 thousand yuan. more than a thousand kilometers away, 2.85 million mu (around 190 thousand hectares) of corn planting area has been expanded in guizhou province, a region that features hilly and rugged landform, by increasing planting density, cultivating drought-resisting varieties and applying high-yield planting technology.
reflecting on the whole year, harvest did not come easily. frequent natural disasters mingling with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and ukraine crisis have all posed overall reduction in grain output across the globe. against the backdrop of global food insecurity, china has motivated all sectors in fighting adversities such as pandemic resurgence, autumn floods rarely seen in north china, high temperature weather and drought damage in south china, and the climbing prices of agricultural supplies. all these efforts together have made this year a bumper harvest.
despite acute food insecurity across the globe, china is predicted to secure another bumper harvest
in the summer of 2022, the “hunger stones” were once again visible in some central european rivers, forecasting that the droughts have already severely threatened grain output. europe may suffer from food insecurity and soaring food prices. on august 22, a report released by european commission’s joint research centre(jrc) reveals that the recent droughts in europe have caused yield reduction of multiple crops. the annual output of corn and soybean in 2022 are both lower than the average of the past five years with 16 percentage points and 15 percentage points.
in september, the official of food and public distribution department of india stated that the drought area has reached 2.5 million hectares which resulted in grain loss of about seven million to eight million tons. the rice planting area may continue to fall as winter comes. ministry of finance of india slapped a 20% export tax on rice except parboiled rice and basmati, and banned exports of broken rice in a bid to control domestic price fluctuations.
the recent hottest temperatures recorded and droughts in many areas of north america have severely affected grain yield. according to the estimations of american farm bureau federation, total output of crops in the u.s. may fall by one-third over last year.
food availability is threatened by natural disasters on the one hand , while the global food market by ukraine crisis on the other hand.
in accordance with the global report on food crises 2022 and cereal supply and demand brief in october published by fao, the world is facing an unprecedented food crisis. fao’ s forecast for global cereal production in 2022 has been lowered to 2768 million tons, 1.7 percent below the 2021 output.
during the crucial time for the growth of autumn grain, south china has been suffering from the lingering hot and rainless weather with the highest average temperature of the corresponding period since 1961, yet north china has undergone the weather of above-average rainfall amounts. local governments have made specific plans and measures against different types of natural disasters for different regions to ensure autumn harvest.
with less than one-tenth of the world cultivated land area, china accounts for nearly a quarter of total global food production, and secures food supply for nearly one-fifth of the world’s population. this is a great miracle created by the chinese people under the leadership of the communist party of china.
party committees and governments assume responsibility for grain production, and roll out policies to deliver actual benefits to farmers
it is the second year that both party committees and governments assume responsibility for ensuring food security. local governments make all-out efforts to expand planting area and to improve unit area yield.
early in the year, jilin city assigned the annual tasks of grain acreage of 10.14 million mu (around 676 thousand hectares) and soybean acreage of 456 thousand mu (around 30.4 thousand hectares) to 12 county-level administrative regions. at present, jilin has 10.58 million mu (around 705.3 thousand hectares) sown with grain, an increase of about 450 thousand mu (around 30 thousand hectares) than scheduled.
at the end of august, the chinese government issued one-time subsidies totaling 10 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion) to grain growers for autumn grain production, and another 10 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion) of relief funds for disaster control shall be embarked by ministry of finance after the deliberation with the ministry of water resources and the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs.
through the implementation of land fertility protection subsidies for cultivated land, subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment, and incentive policies for major grain-producing county, farmers’ enthusiasm for growing grain has been aroused.
under the guidance of the central committee, local governments have rolled out policies that support and benefit farmers.
zhejiang province has established cereal & oil production supporting system covering land fertility protection, large-scale grain production subsidy, minimum purchase price procurement, orders procurement incentive, discount government loans, and policy-backed insurance.
zhejiang provincial department of finance has provided subsidies for households with planting area of more than 50 mu (around 3.3 hectares), 120 yuan for each mu. procurement of wheat, early rice and late rice shall be subsidized with 30, 30 and 20 yuan respectively. the local government established provincial-level dynamic adjusting mechanism for grain production subsidy. according to production cost, 22 yuan shall be subsidized to farmers for each mu. the minimum purchase price of rice in zhejiang has been raised by four yuan for every 50 kg on top of the national minimum purchase prices. zhejiang province put absorption costing insurance for rice into practice which increased the insurance fee from 1000 yuan to 1400 yuan for each mu.
hainan province has embarked another one-time subsidy totaling 22 million yuan (about $3.07 million) on top of the central subsidies to farmers with rice planting area of more than 50 mu (around 3.3 hectares). the subsidy amount for each mu shall not exceed 200 yuan. in order to cope with the climbing prices of agricultural supplies, the local government has issued one-time subsidies totaling 107.9 million yuan (about $15.07 million) to farmers. the subsidy amount of rice and soybean planting for each mu shall not exceed 30 and 100 yuan.
all-out efforts in preventing and mitigating natural disasters to form synergy coping with challenges
jiangsu has made tremendous early drought-relief efforts after summer harvest by coordinating multiple sectors to conduct water diversion. shanxi, to get ready for the possible continuous precipitation in early october, has instructed farmers to rush in the harvest in low-lying land and to make early preparations for drainage in unripe region.
in qijiang district, chongqing, harvesters have been deployed in specific regions of grown rice and corn. drought-resistance agent has been utilized for key varieties and key regions in unripe and non-disaster-hit regions, guiding farmers with multiple sound measures to ensure production. farmer's cooperative in tongzi county, guizhou built up a professional drought-resisting team with 158 villagers to irrigate corn land of 15 thousand mu (around 1000 hectares) with corn output of 1500 tons.
the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs has dispatched 25 working groups, 10 panels of specialists and 12 technology teams guiding grain production. meanwhile, the ministry has formulated contingency plans for pandemic control and has given full play to the telephone hotline.
a large number of high-standard farmlands have averted natural disasters. by the end of 2022, china has created 1 billion mu (around 67 million hectares) of high-standard farmland with guaranteed harvests in drought or flood, reinforcing the foundations for food security.
joint efforts by multiple sectors is the key to bumper harvest. all levels of supply and marketing cooperatives provide services of autumn harvest for farmers and new types of agribusiness. circulation of agricultural supplies as the main channel is to be fully leveraged in times of emergency. department of water resources should continue to enhance preparedness against droughts by ensuring crop irrigation. meteorological departments should enhance forecasts in key farming seasons and agrometeorological hazards to improve farmers' ability to resist natural risks.
