China's grain production fell to a dangerous level

Introduction: China's grain experts warned yesterday that China's grain production dropped sharply for five consecutive years from 1998 to 2003, resulting in a sharp decline in grain stocks, and that grain production "has fallen to a level that can no longer be reduced" Therefore, grain production must increase this year Li Zhensheng, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out at the theme report meeting of the China Forum on science and humanities yesterday that China's grain output reached a record high of 512.3 billion kg in 1998, but it has declined year after year, and last year's grain output was only 430.7 billion kg In the past five years, China's population has continued to grow, and the problem of food security has become very serious In 1998, China's per capita grain was 411 kg, but last year, the per capita grain fell to 333 kg, only equivalent to the level in the early 1980s In the past five years, China's per capita grain ownership has declined at a rate never seen in history China has experienced two sharp declines in grain production since 1949 The first was from 1959 to 1961, which was officially called the "three-year natural disaster" period At that time, a large number of people died of hunger due to lack of food Since 1998, food production has experienced a second decline Li Zhensheng stressed that the decline was larger than the first time But the second decline did not cause famine as it did for the first time, because there was a big difference in per capita food ownership between the two declines During the first decline in 1960, China's per capita grain was only 217 kg In addition to the grain for Industry and sowing, the grain was certainly not enough to eat, and famine was inevitable Li Zhensheng said that China's per capita grain ownership went from more than 200 kg in the 1960s to more than 300 kg in the 1980s and more than 400 kg in 1998 It took more than 30 years for China to reach two steps But in the past five years, "we have come back to more than 20 years ago, and we have come back to a whole step, which must be seriously considered and studied by all parties." A scholar from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences pointed out that since China's grain production reached the highest level in history in 1998, China's top officials thought it had passed the grain production threshold, and even publicly said that even if major disasters occurred for several years in a row, China would not have a grain crisis The increase of grain output leads to the decrease of grain price, which seriously frustrates the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain In many areas, farmers are advised to "adjust the production structure", the main content of which is not to grow grain, but to grow vegetables or fruit trees and other agricultural products with better economic benefits To some extent, the high-level optimistic estimation of the grain problem has shaken China's long-standing concept of "taking grain as the key" Many areas encroach on farmland to build "economic development zone", and some areas blindly implement the policy of "returning farmland to forest and Grassland", which leads to the sharp decrease of the national grain sown area Li Zhensheng said that the continuous loss of grain means the continuous consumption of grain stocks Last year's grain loss reached a record 50 billion kg, leading to a sharp reduction in inventories Although the food supply is still sufficient in the market, the food inventory "has reached the point where it can no longer be dug" He stressed that China must increase grain production this year and curb the momentum of sustained grain production reduction Grain is the foundation of China's social stability and economic development, which should not be ignored China's high-level officials have realized the crisis of insufficient grain production At the beginning of this year, the Chinese government issued a series of policies to encourage farmers to increase their incomes by planting grain.